


Something New

by JamieJam93



Category: One Direction, Ziam Mayne - Fandom, ziam - Fandom
Genre: M/M, Mentions Of Infidelity, Stripper!Liam (not too detailed but present in some chapters)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-10
Updated: 2017-05-25
Packaged: 2018-10-01 23:41:00
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 11
Words: 61,658
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10203479
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JamieJam93/pseuds/JamieJam93
Summary: Zayn, a single father of one, meets Liam, another single father, under circumstances that he can only consider to be fate. Being a single parent is hard, and making a relationship work under such circumstances is even harder. Throw in a jealous ex-husband, who seems to be out to ruin your life, and it's nearly impossible. But only nearly.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Ok, if you've ever read my stuff before, you know how terrible I am at summaries, so if you're giving this a chance...thank you XD Really, I just wanted to write something that was a little lighter than what I usually work on (though it still has some angst because it's me.) This isn't too crazy of a story, but I hope someone can enjoy it anyway :)
> 
> Also, I stole the title from a Tokio Hotel song because I'm listening to their new cd and I'm unoriginal.

            Zayn loved his best friend, he really did, and he would do anything for him, but that didn't mean that Louis didn't owe him for causing him to waste his entire night in the Emergency Room.

            Any other time, Zayn wouldn't have thought twice about taking his friend to the hospital and staying with him all through the night when something was wrong, but the whole situation could have easily been avoided if Louis hadn't taken eight shots of whatever and then danced on a table top to impress the cute bar tender.

            To Louis's honor, it had worked at first. The bartender, Harry, had watched him down those shots with a look of pure amazement on his face. Louis had even gotten the last three for free. Then, when the drunk man had begun his dance routine, Harry had watched him gyrate like he was the most beautiful and elegant creature. Zayn wouldn't have been surprised if there was drool involved.

            Then Louis had done a fancy spin and fell right off the table, hitting his head on the ground hard enough to knock himself out for a few seconds.

            Louis was going to be fine, Zayn knew. He probably hadn't even needed a hospital, but Harry had called an ambulance the second Zayn had asked for a cold beverage to dump on his friend's face. Louis declined the ambulance but, given that he had been unconscious for a few seconds, Harry urged him to at least go and get checked out, and Zayn would have been a terrible friend not to agree, so he eventually got Louis to give in.

            He still owed him, though.

            The nurse that checked the pair into the Emergency Room didn't seem too concerned since Louis was awake, not bleeding and as coherent as one could expect a man who had downed eight shots to be, and they'd waited for an hour before Louis finally got taken back. Zayn wasn't sure if he was allowed to go with him or not, but Louis had waved and told him that he would return soon, so the man didn't bother to ask.

             Louis had only been gone twenty minutes, but Zayn was bored. He wasn't the sit still and do nothing kind of guy, and he didn't have any reading material, notebooks or sketchbooks with him, as he'd thought he was going to be enjoying a busy night out at the club. The outdated magazines the hospital offered could only entertain him for so long (ten minutes.)

            Looking around the waiting area, Zayn shuddered. Being a teacher as well as a father, he could deal with illness and injury fairly well, but seeing everyone there with their parents, significant others, or children made him uncomfortable. He hoped he would never have to see his own father, mother, child or lover in a hospital.

            His ex-husband was another story, but Zayn wasn't going to dwell on that right then.

            To Zayn's luck, and someone else's misfortune, another man walked in at that moment with only a small child, who was sleeping in his arms. After checking in, the man took a seat close to Zayn, leaving only one empty chair between them. He and Zayn made eye contact as the new guy sat, and they offered brief smiles to one another, but Zayn's heart barely had time to skip a beat before this gorgeous man shifted the girl on his lap and began to fill out his paperwork. He must be the girl's father, Zayn thought, because he was much too good at the whole multi-tasking with a child business to simply be a brother or care taker.

            Zayn tried not to let disappointment settle in upon this realization. The fact that he had a kid didn't necessarily mean this guy was straight or taken. Zayn was very gay and also very single, and he had a son himself; a son that was currently with his other father, who Zayn was going to have to attempt to hide the night's events from. Garrett was constantly trying to make Zayn feel as if he was the irresponsible one that caused the two of them to break up when Garrett had been the one to come home to his husband and two-year-old son late almost every day for two months so that he could get a quick fix from a co-worker.

            Not that Zayn was still holding grudges a year later, of course.

            When the mystery man finished his paperwork, he took the clipboard back to the nurse and then reclaimed his seat.

            Now, Zayn wasn't typically the type to try to pick up clearly exhausted men in hospitals, but he was about to perish from boredom and this guy really was beautiful, even with the bags underneath his big brown puppy eyes, and so he didn't shame himself too much for leaning over, putting on his most charming smile and striking up a conversation.

            “I hope your princess is okay,” he said, nodding to the sleeping girl, resting then against the man's chest, mouth gaping open as she snored softly.

            “Oh, yeah, she's fine,” the man said, smiling briefly and then wincing. _Oh._

“I hope you're okay too,” he added.

            “I'm sure I'm fine,” the gorgeous stranger said nonchalantly. “I've just had this weird pain in my side since early this morning and it keeps getting worse and is making me feel pretty poopy, so...”

            _Poopy._ This guy was definitely a dad. Zayn smiled, but then the rest of what the man had said sunk in and he stopped smiling quickly.

            “Which side hurts?” he asked, alarmed.

            “My right.”

            “That could be appendicitis!” Zayn exclaimed. The nurse shot him a look, but he didn't worry about whether she heard or not as he continued, “They're not taking you back right away?!”

            “Guess not,” the guy said with a shrug. “Your turn. What are you in for?”

            “Sounds like we're in prison,” Zayn said, smiling again despite the fact that he was still sincerely worried about this man. The other returned the smile somewhat, waiting for the answer.

            “I'm actually just waiting for my friend,” Zayn told him. “He fell off a table while trying to dance drunk and hit his head. I'm pretty sure he's fine, but better safe than sorry, right?”

            “Definitely,” the other agreed.

            “You know, if it is appendicitis, you're going to have to have your appendix removed and I'm not sure it will be easy for them to do with that little angel attached to you.”

            “This is Zoey,” the man said, smiling down at the girl for a moment before looking back to Zayn. “I'm sure my mate will be here as soon as he gets off work. I can call my mum if I really need to, but it's late and she'll be sleeping right now, so if it's not absolutely necessary, I don't want to bother her.”

            “I'm no doctor, but I'm sorry to say that I think it will be necessary if your friend doesn't show,” Zayn said, selfishly feeling a little happy for himself at this guy's statement because if he had to call his friend or mom to watch the child, he likely didn't have a significant other.

            The man sighed, then cringed, coughed and cringed again.

            “You poor thing,” Zayn said sincerely, wanting to stroke the guy's cheek or do something else to comfort him, but that would be strange, so he didn't.

            “I'm okay,” the other said, even though he clearly wasn't, but that was what single parents did,  Zayn knew. They always said they were alright because if they weren't, they feared for what would happen to their child.

            “So her name is Zoey,” Zayn noted, hoping he wasn't annoying this sick man with his chatter, but until he said that he was, he would keep the conversation going. “What about her cute dad's?”

            The man raised an eyebrow, looking amused, and Zayn sent a silent thank you to the universe that he at least didn't seem mad. It had been a bold move on his part to say that, but he had been trying to follow the advice Louis had given him before jumping up on the table top; _Go bold or go home._

Of course, that had been what had put them both in this undesirable situation, so maybe Zayn should have thought twice. Oh well. Too late now.

            “I'm Liam,” he said. “Do you make it a habit to hit on pale, sick men with bruises under their eyes at the hospital?”

            “Nah, you're the first,” Zayn teased, smiling and trying to hide the fact that his stomach was doing somersaults. “Though it's turned out a lot better than I anticipated, so if I never see you again, I might try it out some more. It's nice to meet you, though, Liam. I can't say I'm glad your appendix is about to rupture, however.”

            “We don't know that's what it is,” Liam said. “It's nice to meet you too, even if I'm not completely confident that I won't throw up on you at some point tonight.”

            “Um,” Zayn said. “Do you want me to take her so that you can, like, find a bathroom or something?”

            “What kind of dad leaves their daughter with some random man that hits on patients in the Emergency Room?”

            “Fair point,” Zayn said with a small laugh. “Though I don't think I would be able to successfully kidnap your baby with the nurse right over there staring us down.”

            Liam looked behind his shoulder to see that the check-in nurse was, in fact, looking down the bridge of her nose intently at them and he gave a soft snort.

            “Besides,” Zayn continued. “I've got a son probably about her age, so I'm not completely idiotic with children.”

            “You have a son?” Liam asked, looking surprised, for some reason.

            “I do. Isa. He's three.”

            “Zoey will be three next month,” Liam said.

            “See? I can totally take care of Zoey long enough for you to find somewhere to vomit besides on me. Sorry, but these are new shoes _and_ new jeans.”

            Liam glared, but the corners of his mouth were turned up.

            “I've got it under control for now,” he claimed.

            “If you say so.”

            “You haven't told me your name,” the sick man noted.

            “You didn't ask,” Zayn pointed out.

            “I am now.”

            “It's Zayn.”

            “Zayn.”

            Liam nodded, as if he was approving of the name.

            “I like it. I like Isa too. You don't hear it often.”

            “Thank you. They're both Arabic.”

            Before Liam could say anything else, the two were interrupted by someone calling his name. Liam turned his body slowly towards the voice and Zayn gaped when he saw who was approaching them.

            “Hey, Harry!” Liam called out softly. “What are you doing here? I thought you didn't get off for at least another couple of hours?”

            “Well, when you get a voice mail from your best mate saying that he's going to the hospital for a sharp pain in his side, you get yourself to the hospital. What's going on? Have they seen you yet?”

            “Not yet.”

            “Here, let me take Zoey.”

            Carefully, Liam handed his daughter over to his mate, who softly shushed the girl as she began to whine. Now that his hands were free, Liam nearly doubled over on himself, though kept a smile on his face, clearly worried about someone noticing how sick he truly was.

            “Seriously, they need to get you back there,” Harry scoffed, glancing over at the check-in nurse like he was about to say something to her.

            “That's what I told him,” Zayn spoke up, and for the first time, Harry glanced over to him, and then did a double take. His eyes narrowed, the gears in his mind turning quickly as he tried to figure out why the man looked so familiar. After a few moments, the light bulb went off in his head, his mouth falling slack and his eyes widening briefly.

            “Oh, hey, it's you!” he said. “How is your friend? Louis, I think it was.”

            “Louis, yes,” Zayn verified. “I haven't heard anything since he went back, but I'm sure he's fine. He was being typical Louis all the way here.”

            “Good, but I feel so bad.”

            “No need. You didn't tell him to dance on that table.”

            From the seat in the middle of the two, Liam was looking back and forth between them, curious. Zayn hurried to explain.

            “Remember how I said my mate fell off a table and hit his head? Well, he was trying to impress your mate here.”

            “Whoa, that's weird,” Liam commented.

            “Right. What are the odds?” Zayn said.

            “No, I meant it's weird that he would be trying to impress Harry of all people,” Liam replied, another smile slowly making its way to his face.

            “Ha-ha, dick head,” Harry said, though he was clearly amused. “I'm glad to see your lovely sense of humor is still present.”

            Liam smiled wider, but only briefly and then his face became serious, his breathing growing more shallow.

            “I will...be right back,” he said, and promptly got to his feet, walking away slightly hunched over.

            “That is definitely appendicitis,” Harry commented, watching his friend go.

            “I've never experienced it, but that would be my guess,” Zayn agreed. Harry took a seat in the chair next to him, shifting Zoey, who whined again, but still didn't wake.

            “She's so cute,” Zayn said, smiling at the girl's round, pink cheeks and full, puckered lips.

            “Yeah, she is,” Harry agreed. “I think she looks like Liam. I mean, her mum is pretty too, but doesn't have strong genes apparently because Zoey looks like a female version of her father, which I never imagined would be pretty, but I guess she proved me wrong.”

            Zayn laughed, assuming that remark was payback for Liam's earlier joke. He couldn't lie to himself and say that Harry's words didn't disappoint him a little, though. _Her mum._ Zoey had a mother.

            Well, of course she had a mother. Isa even had a mother biologically, but from the sounds of it, Zayn got the feeling that Zoey was made sexually and not from a petri dish. Not that it really meant anything. Just because Liam had a child with a woman didn't mean he was straight, but the prospects kept looking more and more likely.

            _Go bold or go home_ , Zayn remembered Louis saying and so, again, he decided to take the advice of his friend who had literally ended up in the hospital from it.

            “So Liam likes women?” he asked Harry, who quirked an eyebrow and smiled widely, those dimples that Louis hadn't shut up about until he'd knocked himself out on full display.

            “Yes,” Harry said and then, after a heartbreaking pause, he added, “And men, and everything in between.”

            A strong feeling of hope and happiness coursed through Zayn and he wondered if it was noticeable because Harry laughed again.

            “He doesn't really have experience with anyone other than women though,” he said.

            “That's alright,” Zayn said. “I'm a teacher.”

            Harry snorted, but bit his lip and worked hard on halting his laughter when Zoey stirred. Zayn smiled, but didn't get a chance to tell Harry that he hadn't simply been telling a bad joke; that he really was a teacher, because then he heard his name.

            “Zaynie!”

            “Lou,” the man sighed in relief before he even saw his friend walking towards him. He stood and in the next moment, Louis had wrapped his arms around his middle and buried his face against Zayn.

            “So tired,” he yawned.

            “Yeah? You alright though?” Zayn asked.

            “Yeah,” Louis said, leaning back a little, but still counting on Zayn to support most of his weight. “They think I was unconscious before I even fell off the table due to the alcohol. No concussion. I'm just tired.”

            “Let's get you out of here,” Zayn said, keeping an arm around Louis's waist as he turned. As he tried to move forward, though, Louis didn't budge with him. He stood, his mouth formed in a tiny 'o' and his eyes wide as he stared. Zayn didn't have to follow his gaze to figure out what-or who-at.

            “Zayn,” Louis croaked.

            “Yes, Louis?”

            “I think I may have hit my head a bit harder than we all think.”

            Zayn and Harry both laughed, a slightly red tint to Harry's cheeks.

            “Don't get too excited,” Zayn told his mate. “He's not here to see you. His friend is here.”

            “I am glad to see you though,” Harry interjected quickly. “How are you feeling?”

            “Wonderful,” Louis spoke quietly. Zayn was almost worried he might faint again.

            “Good,” Harry said. “I'm so sorry about what happened. I should not have given you so much alcohol. I know better, I just...”

            Harry trailed off, his blush deepening at whatever thought he'd had that he found best to keep to himself.

            “I'm sorry,” he apologized again instead.

            “It's okay, Harry,” Louis said, smiling sleepily and then falling sideways against Zayn.

            “We need to go,” Zayn commented, feeling bad that he had to interrupt whatever love connection the two were forming and feeling even worse that he didn't get to see Liam again, but life wasn't fair sometimes.

            “Okay,” Louis sighed.

            “Hey, real quick; can I give you my number?” Harry asked, his words rushing out so fast that Zayn almost didn't understand him. “Then tomorrow or, rather, later today, you can text me or call me to let me know that you're really okay...if you want.”

            “Yeah, okay,” Louis said, a small smile spreading across his face as he patted himself down until he found his phone. He handed the phone to Zayn, trusting him to enter the number Harry was reciting more than he trusted himself.

            “Have a good night, Harry,” Zayn said after he'd double checked that the man's number was saved and he handed Louis's phone back to him. “I hope Liam gets seen soon and they get him feeling better.”

            “Thanks. Me too,” Harry said.

            “Bye, Harry! Thanks for the free drinks!” Louis said, waving obnoxiously as Zayn began to lead him away again.

            “See you, Louis,” Harry said.

            “Did you hear that, Zayn?!” Louis asked once the pair were outside. “He said he'll see me soon!”

            “I heard,” Zayn assured the other.

 

            “I can't text him.”

            Zayn groaned, having heard the same claim five times already and it was exhausting, especially when he knew that Louis would eventually end up texting the bartender he'd met the previous night no matter what.

            “Just text him,” he said, also for the fifth time.

            “I made an idiot out of myself!”

            “Clearly not so much that he didn't want to still give you his number.”

            “Maybe he was just being nice.”

            “That makes no sense. He didn't push you off the bar. He doesn't owe you anything. He wants to know that you're okay and he wants to see you again, remember?”

            “No, I do not remember.”

            “Text him, Lou,” Zayn sighed.

            “No.”

            Zayn rubbed his temples. He had a bit of a headache himself, mostly from lack of sleep, since he'd made Louis stay the night at his place, just in case, and woke on an hourly basis to check on him, but also because his best friend was exhausting in general.

            “Well, if you're not going to text him, can I at least get his number from your phone so I can see how his mate is doing?”

            “His mate?” Louis asked, one eyebrow quirked as he sat a little straighter.

            “Yes...His friend was in the hospital last night, or did you choose to forget that part and think that Harry showed up at the hospital for your drunk ass?”

            “I might remember you mentioning something about a friend,” Louis said offhandedly. “I am just curious as to why you're so worried about it.”

            “Because I'm a good person who gets worried when someone is next to me with their appendix about to burst.”

            Louis's eyebrow raised even further, almost meeting his hairline. Zayn sighed.

            “And because his friend is hot as fuck.”

            Louis laughed loudly, clapping his hands together in delight.

            “There it is! You get it, Zayn.”

            “Hey, I'm serious about this,” Zayn reasoned, leaning backwards against the kitchen counter and crossing his arms over his chest as he stared at Louis, sitting at the breakfast bar and munching on some toast whenever he wasn't beating himself up in shame. “It's not every day that I meet a cute guy around my age that is interested in men and is also a single father.”

            “Hold on, he has a kid?!”

            “Yeah. The little girl that Harry was holding last night was his. Zoey.”

            “Harry was holding a kid?”

            “Wow, you really were more out of it than I thought.”

            “I was distracted by Harry's beauty.”

            Louis groaned, hitting himself in the head for the umpeenth time that morning.

            “He's so beautiful and I'm such an idiot!”

            Knowing that nothing he could say would make Louis feel any better-he'd already tried-Zayn waited for this most recent moment of embarrassment to pass.

            “Okay,” Louis sighed, looking up. “Enough about that. So, are you interested in actually getting something started with this guy?”

            “Maybe,” Zayn admitted, though he felt the true answer was a definite yes. “I know I said that I was done dating for a few years, but that's just because most people in my age range either aren't ready for a kid or can't understand why I prioritize Isa over them.”

            “Most people our age are bigots,” Louis agreed with a nod. “Alright, I'll text Harry to see how his mate is doing. What did you say his name was?”

            “Liam.”

            “Liam. Zayn and Liam. Liam and Zayn.”

            Louis gasped.

            “Oh my god, your names are so cute together!”

            Zayn rolled his eyes and turned to make himself a cup of coffee, if only to hide the fact that his face was heating up.

            In the short amount of time it took for Zayn's coffee to finish and for him to pour himself a glass, Zayn had heard Louis's phone go off four times. Each time, he waited for a progress report, but when he kept not receiving one, he grew nervous. Had something gone wrong? Did they not remove Liam's appendix in time? Did something happen during the procedure? Was it not appendicitis after all, but something worse?

            “Louis?” Zayn prompted as he took his mug and sat next to the other man, who jumped as if he'd forgotten that Zayn was there.

            “Huh?” he asked, locking his phone quickly, his own cheeks pink. Zayn was curious, but quickly decided that he didn't want to know.

            “How is Liam?”

            “Oh, he's fine,” Louis answered, waving his hand in the air. “He had his appendix removed and is sleeping comfortably.”

            “Good,” Zayn said. “When does he get out of the hospital?”

            “I don't know. I'll ask.”

            It took a few rounds of Harry and Louis messaging each other and Louis smiling like a manic clown, but then he finally said,

            “He'll at least be there until tomorrow. We should totally go visit.”

            “I doubt Liam will want people that he barely knows barging into his hospital room while he's recovering from surgery.”

            “Nonsense. Harry said we should go.”

            “Only so that he can see you, I'm betting.”

            “Nonsense,” Louis repeated, standing from his bar stool and stretching his arms above his head. “I'm going to shower before we go. Can I borrow your leather jacket?”

 

            Zayn noted with hilarity how over-dressed he and Louis both were for visiting someone in a hospital. Louis had on a dark blue shirt with Zayn's black leather jacket (despite the fact that it was summer), black jeans and his own converse while Zayn had chosen a black t-shirt with a gray vest and darker gray jeans along with his favorite pair of boots. He wasn't going to worry about it, though. Liam seemed like the type to appreciate a well put together man, he thought.

            Harry had given Louis Liam's room number and Louis led the way, looking way too excited to be at the hospital for the second time in less than twenty-four hours. Of course, for not being a fan of hospitals, Zayn was not dreading this visit as much as he should have been.

            On the way to the elevators, Zayn and Louis passed a gift shop, and Zayn almost called out for Louis to stop, but then decided that was _too_ bold of a move and continued following his friend.

            When the two reached Liam's room, the patient was awake and eating ice from a cup. Zayn heard Harry and Louis exchange hellos, but he was too focused on the other man to participate in the same pleasantries. Zayn hadn't forgotten how cute Liam was over night, but he was amazed that he looked so good so soon after surgery. It was like he was a soap opera star relaxing in a hospital bed on set instead of an actual man who had just had part of his insides removed after a full day of being sick and in pain. Even in the bags that were still under his eyes didn’t deter from his beauty, or if they did, Zayn couldn’t imagine how gorgeous he was going to find this man once he was in good health.

            Once Liam had succeeded in fishing a piece of ice into his mouth, he did a happy little dance with his shoulders and then looked up at his new visitors, smiling.

            “Hello again!” he greeted, his puppy eyes sparkling.

            “Hi,” Zayn replied, smiling as he took a couple of steps closer to the man's bed. “Feeling any better?”

            “I feel a lot better!” Liam said. “You were right. It was appendicitis.”

            “I heard. I'm glad it was taken care of.”

            “Me too. I never want to experience that again.”

            “Well, you only have one appendix, so I think it's safe to say that you won't have to.”

            “Good point,” Liam said with another smile. Zayn returned it, thinking that Liam may still be a little loopy from the various medications he was given, but finding him adorable regardless.

            “I'm starving,” Harry spoke up. “I'm going to run down to the cafeteria real quick now that you're awake and have other company, Li. Louis, would you like to join me?”

            “Yes,” Louis answered instantly.

            “Great. Anyone else want anything? And by that, I don't mean you, Liam, because you're on an ice chip diet,” Harry said.

            “Jerk,” Liam commented.

            “No, thank you,” Zayn said.

            “Okay. We'll be back.”

            “Have fun!” Liam called, blowing kisses as the two left the room. Zayn laughed, wondering how this guy was even real.

            “So...um...I'm a terrible person, but I forgot your name and Harry was being mean and wouldn't tell me,” Liam said, looking at Zayn forlornly. Typically, Zayn probably would have been offended, but with Liam being the way he was and looking the way he did, he somehow knew not to take it personally.

            “That's alright,” he assured him. “You were going through quite the ordeal last night and are under the influence of certain medications right now, I'm assuming, so you're forgiven this once.”

            “Yay!” Liam said, perking up and smiling again. “Will you tell me your name again then, please?”

            “Zayn.”

            “Zayn!” Liam exclaimed, snapping his fingers. “Yeah, I totally knew that.”

            “I believe you,” Zayn said with a wink.

            “Well, Zayn, you can have a seat if you'd like.”

            So Zayn sat in the nearest chair, pulling it a couple of feet closer to Liam's bed so that they could almost touch if they'd wanted to.

            Liam spoke again.

            “And your son's name is Isaac...no...No, it's not...”

            Liam thought, his forehead creasing as he concentrated.

            “Isa!” he finally said, clapping his hands together.

            “You are correct, sir.”

            Liam smiled. Zayn realized that he hadn't seen him properly smile the night before, given how terrible he'd felt, and now that he did, Zayn was convinced that every day would be a little brighter if he got to see that. His smile was so wide that his eyes became mere slits, and he had an under eye dimple.

            Was it too early to think that he was falling in love?

            Yes, yes it was. He wasn’t falling in love; just in lust, but that was alright. Love could come later, maybe…perhaps.

            “Yeah, I like the name Isa,” Liam commented.

            “You told me that last night, so thank you again.”

            “You're welcome.”

            “Where is Zoey, if I may ask?”

            “My mum has her for the day.”

            “That's nice. I bet Zoey loves nana time.”

            “She does. I think she quite likes that her hair looks good for a few hours or so. I'm not a talented hair dresser, I'm afraid.”

            “Well, as I see it, that's not in the requirements for being a good dad.”

            Liam smiled again. Zayn felt a bit of pride in himself, even though he didn't think it was probably all that hard to get Liam to smile.

            “So where is Isa...if I may ask?” the patient returned, wincing as he shifted positions.

            “You okay?” Zayn asked, frowning in concern.

            “I'm fine,” Liam said, smiling once again.

            “If you're sure,” Zayn said, and then answered the question. “Isa is with his other dad.”

            “Other dad?” Liam asked curiously, and Zayn grew suddenly self-conscious. He wasn't sure why Liam was so surprised. Zayn clearly wasn't straight, as he'd made the moves on him last night. Of course, it was possible that Liam didn't remember, but he still worried that this reaction meant that Liam wasn't interested. Maybe Harry was wrong and he wasn't even interested in men at all.

            “Um, yeah,” Zayn said, his voice shaking a bit, which made him angry with himself. He'd come to terms with who he was and who he loved long ago and banished that awful internalized homophobia he used to feel, so why was he suddenly so nervous talking about his ex-husband?

            “How does that work?” Liam asked, not looking judgmental; just genuinely curious, but then he amended, “I mean, I know there are options for same sex couples, of course. You just seem so young. I know I wouldn't have had Zoey if it weren't for a happy accident. You actually had to plan, I'm assuming.”

            “Yeah,” Zayn answered, feeling a little better that Liam didn't seem disgusted with him, but, still, he was nervous. “It's a long story, but basically, I married into money while I was young and when things started to get rocky, I did the dumb 'let's have a baby to save our marriage' thing. He agreed, so long as it was my sperm we used with a surrogate and, thus, Isa was born.”

            “And I'm guessing a baby didn't save the marriage?”

            “Not at all. I don't have any regrets though. I'm glad I have him.”

            “Oh, yeah, of course,” Liam said, nodding understandably. “At least the other dad is still in the picture for him too, right?”

            “Yes. If nothing else, he's a good dad.”

            Liam gave a smaller smile; a sleepier one, and yawned before saying,

            “Maybe Isa and Zoey can have a play date sometime.”

            “Yeah,” Zayn agreed, trying not to smile too big himself. “I think Isa would like that.”

            _I know I would_ , Zayn said also, but not out loud.


	2. Chapter 2

            Zayn was sure that, no matter how loopy Liam may still have been, taking him back home the next day was only a one man job that Harry could have very well handled. However, he found himself in the backseat of Harry’s car, with Louis up front by the bartender, on his way to pick Liam up from the hospital. Zoey, Zayn was told, was at Liam’s mother’s house, so he was glad that the man at least had help during this time.

            It must have meant something that Zayn was willingly entering a hospital for the third time in three days and, even though that uneasy feeling settled itself in him as soon as he stepped foot inside the doors, he was excited that he was going to see Liam again.

            While Harry and Louis went to tell the nurse that they were there to pick up Harry’s recovering friend, Zayn let himself into the man’s room after a brief knock on the door frame. Liam, whose eyes had been trained lazily on the TV, looked over at the noise and smiled when he saw Zayn, wincing as he sat up straighter.

            “Easy,” Zayn told him. “Does it still hurt a lot?”

            “Not too bad,” Liam replied, though Zayn thought he would say that even if it did. “What are you doing here?” he asked then, but quickly amended, “I mean, I don’t mind at all. Actually, I’m really happy to see you. I just didn’t expect you to come back.”

            “We’re taking you home,” Zayn explained. “Harry, Louis and me.”

            “Cool,” Liam said with another, slightly smaller, smile.

            “So what are you watching?” Zayn asked, standing by Liam’s bed and fixing his eyes on the small television hanging from the ceiling, if only so he wouldn’t keep staring at Liam.

            “The Wheel of Fortune,” Liam answered, even though Zayn could clearly see what it was now that he actually spared it a glance. “Not much is on.”

            “I think the show is thrilling,” Zayn remarked, and Liam glanced at him, unsure if he was being serious or not. In the end, he seemed to conclude that he wasn’t, and gave a slight laugh, coughing afterward. Zayn thought he might have said something else in reply, but there was another knock on the door frame and then the nurse from the desk entered, pushing a wheelchair and followed by Harry and Louis.

            “Alright, Liam; it looks like you’re good to go!” she announced cheerily.

            “Damn, just when the show was getting good,” Liam joked, earning a smile from Zayn that the patient seemed quite proud of.

            After flipping off the television set, Liam took a deep breath, mentally and physically preparing himself to get off the bed and into his wheelchair.

            “Do you need help?” Zayn asked.

            “I’ve got it,” Liam insisted. Harry noticeably rolled his eyes, but stayed silent. All eyes, including those of Jeanette, the nurse, remained trained on Liam as he moved himself to his chair. Zayn even found himself holding his breath.

            “What?” Liam asked, once he had himself situated and saw everyone staring at him.

            “Nothing,” Harry said.

            “Ready to go?” Zayn asked, taking it upon himself to grab a hold of the handles and spin Liam, slowly, around.

            “I’m ready,” Liam replied.

            “Is everything in your bag?” Harry asked, picking up the overnight bag he had brought to his friend the day before. After being assured that it was, Jeanette led the way out, followed by Harry and Louis, and then Zayn, who was still pushing Liam.

            “Alright, Li,” Harry spoke once everyone was settled in the car. It had taken longer than necessary as Liam had, again, refused help, but Zayn found his independence admirable. It was really the only way to survive as a single parent, he knew. “What do you want to jam to? Drake? JT?”

            “No,” Liam answered after a moment’s hesitation. “I’ll be too tempted to dance. Play something slow and sad.”

            “Adele it is.”

            Zayn didn’t say so, but he wasn’t the biggest fan of Adele anymore, if only because he’d worn her albums out after his break up with Garrett, but he was glad to find that he could listen to the music without breaking down in tears now. He may or may not have stared out the window a bit melodramatically, but that was his own business.

            He didn’t sulk for long, though, because, feeling eyes on him, he turned his head to see Liam staring at him. His eyes were glazed over, as if he were spaced out, but he smiled as soon as he knew that he had been caught and then looked forward, appearing to bite the insides of his cheeks. Normally, Zayn probably would have felt uncomfortable about the fact that he’d been stared down, but in that instance, he couldn’t help but smile as wel,l and then he continued to gaze out the window, forgetting to let the lyrics of the current song-something about sending the singer’s love to the ex-flame’s new lover-make him sad.

 

            To everyone’s surprise, Liam let Harry help him out of the car and inside of his apartment. Though he didn’t ask him to, Liam also didn’t complain when Harry led him straight to the couch and got him a glass of water.

            “Alright, Li,” Harry spoke after watching cautiously as his friend took a couple sips of the drink. “Will you be alright while I run Louis and Zayn home?”

            “You’re leaving already?” Liam asked, looking between the three with an unreadable expression on his face as his thumb absently stroked the cup he was holding.

            “We figured you would want to rest, and that you wouldn’t be able to do it with a bunch of people over,” Louis explained.

            “Oh,” Liam said. “It’s fine if you want to stay. I’m really not that tired right now…But if you want to go, then, yeah, that’s totally fine. I mean, um, it’s up to all of you.”

            Harry raised an eyebrow, a smile spreading across his face as he spared a quick glance to his newer friends.

            “Do you two want to stay for a bit?” he asked. “We can watch one of Liam’s favorite films that he’s probably made me watch twenty times already and then maybe get some dinner later; pizza, if Liam feels up to it.”

            “Mmm…real food,” Liam sighed happily.

            “We can stay, I think,” Louis agreed, shooting a quick glance to Zayn, who nodded off-handedly, like he wasn’t completely thrilled that he was gaining a little extra time with Liam.

            “I’m not doing anything today,” the teacher said.

            “Cool.” Liam smiled. Zayn returned it, because he didn’t think it would be possible not to return a smile from the other man.

            Harry was delighted when Liam announced that he wanted to watch a film that he hadn’t seen before, and he was even more excited when he let the others pick the movie. As they watched, Louis and Harry laying on their stomachs close to each other on the ground and Zayn on the couch with Liam, who was laying down, the top of his head brushing the side of Zayn’s thigh, Zayn felt as if no one was really paying that close of attention to the TVq. Louis and Harry were having a whispered conversation that Zayn was sure he could listen in on if he’d really wanted to, but he had no desire. Liam, despite claiming that he hadn’t been that tired, dozed off every now and then, always waking with a start, and Zayn was simply too lost in his own head to focus much on the film. He smiled watching Louis and Harry giggle together and look at each other like they were what they’d been waiting for their entire lives, and he smiled when he looked down and saw Liam beside of him. He wasn’t going to jump the gun and say that Liam was everything he’d been hoping for or that they were going to become an item and slay the world. Maybe nothing would come out of this relationship besides a friendship, but that would be okay. Zayn had Louis as a best friend, and he loved him, but it would be nice to have another single parent that he could talk to about single parent things and get together every now and then for play dates with their kids.

            Not that Zayn would complain if things did progress, probably, because already, he was undeniably attracted to Liam, but he wasn’t expecting anything and he would be grateful for whatever happened.

            Once the film was over, Liam asked if they could order the pizza because it would soon be time for him to take another pain killer, which made him not want to eat, and he was starving. Of course, no one was going to disagree with that, and so Harry ordered the food. Zayn and Liam were highly amused when they discovered that they liked the exact same toppings on theirs.

            “Oh my god, sorry the kitchen is a mess,” Liam said, looking embarrassed, after their food had arrived and the group moved to the kitchen and dining area to eat. “I didn’t really feel like doing dishes the past couple days I was home and Zoey likes to come in here and play while I cook, so…”

            “Given the circumstances, I don’t think you have to apologize,” Harry assured his friend, picking up a couple of toys from the floor and setting them somewhere they wouldn’t be a tripping hazard.

            “I don’t think, with kids, you have to ever apologize for a mess,” Zayn assured him, and Liam gave a slight smile, walking, slowly, to a cupboard and being ‘tsked’ at by his mate when he reached up to open it.

            “You sit,” Harry ordered. “I know where the plates and cups are. I’ve got it.”

            “I’m okay,” Liam insisted, but when he was only told, once again, to sit, he complied.

            After eating, Zayn took it upon himself to clean the dishes. The lot of them hadn’t dirtied up anything, as they’d used paper plates and plastic cups, but the dish pile in the sink was quite high, and Zayn wasn’t judging, but he didn’t think Liam should have to worry about something as mundane as dishes for the next couple of days.

            “What are you doing?” Liam had demanded when he came back to the kitchen from the bathroom and saw Zayn tidying up. Giving his most charming smile, Zayn replied.

            “Just helping out.”

            “You really don’t have to do that.”

            “I know,” he assured him. “I want to.”

            Liam looked as if he wanted to argue, but interrupted himself by yawning.

            “I think, when you’re done with that, it might be time for us to go,” Louis told Zayn.

            “Probably,” Zayn agreed, even though he didn’t want to. Liam frowned, but didn’t verbally disagree. He was slowly growing paler and Zayn thought he was feeling worse as the minutes wore on, but he didn’t bother asking if he was alright when he knew what the answer would be.

            Since Liam’s mother was planning to stay with him that night, Harry and Louis had decided to go out, get dessert and go to the cinema later. They invited Zayn along, but Zayn wasn’t dumb enough to not know that the invitation was just a formality. He wasn’t offended, and he knew that Louis wouldn’t _really_ care if he agreed to go, but Zayn wasn’t the type to allow himself to be a third wheel and so he told the pair that they could just take him home.

            Like Zayn, Harry saw that Liam was starting to feel worse as the evening rolled around and even though he didn’t say so out loud, he wasn’t comfortable with leaving his friend alone quite yet, so he came up with the plan to have Louis take Zayn home before meeting back at Liam’s, where they would head out as soon as his mother got there.

            “I can’t believe he’s trusting a bloke he just met with his car,” Zayn teased as Louis adjusted Harry’s seat and steering wheel to fit his smaller self.

            “I am a very trustworthy person,” Louis said, fixing his hair in the rear-view mirror and then strapping on his seatbelt.

            “You got drunk and fell off a table the night you met him,” Zayn pointed out.

            “That was fate,” Louis claimed.

            “Oh, was it?”

            “Yes,” Louis said as he began to drive. “If I hadn’t fallen off the table, I wouldn’t have ended up in the hospital where Harry gave me his number.”

            “True, but if you hadn’t fallen off the table, he probably would have given you his phone number before we left the bar and you would have remained uninjured.”

            “Maybe, but that wouldn’t have worked out for you and Liam.”

            “So, you think that’s fate, huh?”

            “Well, obviously. The whole thing is so twisted and amazing that it has to be.”

            Zayn would never tell Louis that he thought he had a point and that he may even, deep down, kind of feel the same way.

            “Tell me how Liam is doing later, okay?” Zayn asked his friend after he’d parked in front of his house.

            “Why don’t you just ask him yourself?” Louis questioned.

            “I don’t have his number.”

            “I’ll get it from Harry and give it to you.”

            “That might annoy him. What if he doesn’t want me to have his number?”

            Louis rolled his eyes.

            “I’m going to text you his number. After that, it’s up to you.”

 

            Louis must have sent Zayn Liam’s number as soon as he’d returned to the apartment because Zayn had barely had time to wash up and settle down with a book when his phone buzzed. He didn’t know why, but his face heated up as he saved the man’s number, and then he giggled to himself when he put the emoji with the medical mask next to Liam’s name. He was tempted to text him right away and ask how he was doing, but he didn’t. Zayn was a patient man, but he was excitable, and so it was hard for him to resist, but he managed to do so for two whole hours, when he finally put down the book that he really should have gotten farther into than he had, and typed out a message.

            _Hi, Liam. It’s Zayn. Louis got your number from Harry and gave it to me…Hope you don’t mind. I just wanted to check in and see how you’re doing._

Zayn let out a deep breath as he pressed the ‘send’ button, more nervous than he should have been. The worst that could happen was that Liam didn’t reply, and then Zayn would get the hint and never use the number again.

            That was still pretty bad, though.

            For a while, Liam didn’t reply and Zayn grew embarrassed. Liam may want to be friendly in the respect of getting their children together for play dates-unless he’d only said that in some drug-induced haze-but that didn’t mean he actually wanted to be friends. Zayn shouldn’t have texted him, especially when the man hadn’t even been the one to give him his number.

            Zayn crawled into bed early that night, hoping to fall asleep for a while and ease some of the shame, but just as he was getting settled, his phone went off. He expected to see a message from Louis, asking if he’d texted Liam yet or telling him how his night out with Harry was going, but he perked up when he saw that the message was from Liam. Sitting straighter, Zayn opened the message.

            _H_ e _y Zayn! I don’t mind that Louis gave you my number =] Sorry it took so long to reply. I was asleep =p I’m feeling ok tho. Thanks for asking!_

Smiling, Zayn hesitated with his finger over the reply space, but then he decided to go for it. If Liam was to get annoyed by Zayn, he probably wouldn’t have texted him back in the first place, even once he woke up.

            Realizing that this wasn’t a situation that needed this much analyzation, Zayn shook his head and replied.

            _Glad you feel ok. Let me know if you need any help with Zoey or anything else, even if it’s just letting the kids have a play date at one of our places while you rest._

 _Zoey and I would love a play date =],_ Liam replied.

            _Cool, just let me know when,_ Zayn typed back.

            _Will do!_ , Liam said, and Zayn tried not to get disappointed that he hadn’t immediately picked a day.

 

            Zayn woke up in a good mood the next morning, not only because he’d ended the night by reading a text from Liam that said good night and that he would see him soon, but because he was going to be picking up his son from his ex-husband’s house. Garrett and Zayn had an agreement where they would each get the child for three days before handing him off again and, while Zayn wished he could spend every day with his kid, it was still a better agreement than some.

            While Zayn was usually slow in the mornings, he was quick on the days that he got to pick up Isa, and he jumped out of bed the very same minute his eyes were opened. After showering, Zayn ate a quick breakfast and was just about to put a load of laundry in when his phone went off. His first instinct was to ignore it, but when he checked to see who was trying to reach him, he saw a Face Time request from Liam. He frowned for only an instant, simply out of confusion, and then, without a second thought, accepted the call. The confusion lasted for another few moments when Zayn was faced only with the upside-down room and then a blur of colors, but then it all made sense when the phone was clumsily flipped and he was looking at a little girl, whose grin lit her face when she noticed that she’d called someone.

            “Hi, Zoey,” Zayn greeted, even though the girl had never seen him before in her life. She didn’t seem bothered though, and let out a loud giggle, looking quite proud of herself.

            “Hi,” she said in the sweetest, highest pitched voice Zayn could ever remember hearing.

            “Where is your daddy?” Zayn asked the girl.

            “I don’t know,” she answered, but the way her eyes flickered to somewhere off camera, Zayn wasn’t sure she was telling the complete truth, and he laughed.

            “Well, are you having fun with his phone?” he asked next.

            “Yes!”

            “Zo?”

            Zayn couldn’t help but to laugh again when he heard Liam’s voice from the near distance, and then Zoey shrieked, laughing herself as she dropped the phone and ran away.

            “This kid,” Liam spoke out loud, picking up his phone and then startling when he saw Zayn’s face looking back at him.

            “Oh,” he said, running a hand through his hair and then his beard. “Hi.”

            “Hi,” Zayn said, still giggling, but trying to compose himself.

            “I swear, I can’t leave my phone to even take a leak,” Liam commented, a small smile on his face, but enough to show that he wasn’t actually upset with his daughter.

            “Have you thought about putting a pass code on it?” Zayn questioned.

            “I used to have one, but I sometimes let Zoey play with apps on my phone and she thought it was fun to keep locking my phone and making me type in the pass code to get back in. I got tired of doing that, so I just removed the code.”

            “I guess you had to choose the lesser of two evils, then.”

            “Yeah.”

            Liam’s smile grew for a moment and then he spoke again.

            “So, did you call me or did she call you?”

            “She called me.”

            “Sorry about that.”

            “It’s totally fine. How are you today? Is your mum still there?”

            “I’m okay, but no, my mum left. I told her to, claiming that I needed no help whatsoever, but I think I may have jumped the gun on that.”

            “I had the feeling you were a bit independent; maybe even stubborn,” Zayn commented.

            “I’m just prideful,” Liam defended himself. Zayn gave a slight chuckle.

            “Oh, is that what it’s called?”

            “Yes.”

            “Are you too prideful to ask me to go to the grocery for you?”

            Liam had made an off-hand comment the previous evening about having nothing in the apartment when Harry had looked for any drinks besides water and found nothing but a bit of milk, which he wasn’t touching.

            “I’m much too prideful for that,” Liam said.

            “Well, are you too prideful to even let me bring you and Zoey some lunch?”

            “Maybe.”

            “It would be no trouble,” Zayn assured the other, encouraged by the fact that he hadn’t been completely turned down. “I’m heading out soon to get Isa and I’m sure he’ll need some lunch. He’s a McDonald’s kid, and his other dad never lets him have fast food, so I try to treat him to it every now and then. I can get whatever you want, though.”

            “He never lets him have fast food?” Liam asked. “Wow, I’m a terrible father. Zoey eats fast food at least once every other week, I feel like.”

            “You’re not a terrible father,” Zayn told him. “Garrett is…He’s something.”

            Liam smiled, quirking a curious eyebrow, but Zayn decided to not go into further details on his ex right then.

            “Anyway, if you and Zoey would like some McDonalds, I can be there in about an hour.”

            Liam paused, seriously considering his decision before he finally said, with reluctance,

            “That’s okay. We’ll just find something here.”

            Zayn rolled his eyes.

            “You’re making it really hard for me to see you again, you know that?”

            Finally, Liam smiled so widely again that his under eye dimple made an appearance.

            “You can come over,” Liam said, “but I’m not asking you to bring lunch.”

            “Okay, you’re not asking,” Zayn agreed, “but I’ll be there with food in an hour or so.”

 

            Zayn didn’t know why he got a sick feeling every time he pulled up to his ex-husband’s house. He no longer wanted the other man and he didn’t even care about him enough to hate him, but the trip to pick up Isa was never a pleasant one for him. It was worth it, though, when Isa heard his voice greet Garrett from the doorway, causing the child to run into the entryway, yell, ‘baba’ at the top of his lungs and then throw himself into Zayn’s arms.

            “Are you hungry?” Zayn asked the kid as he got him buckled into his car seat in the back of his vehicle.

            “Yeah,” Isa answered. Zayn hadn’t even needed to ask, really. The kid was always hungry. Zayn didn’t even want to think of what his teenage years would be like.

            “Do you want some McDonald’s?” Zayn asked, and smiled as the child’s eyes lit up with joy.

            “Yeah!” he exclaimed excitedly. “I want chicken nuggets.”

            “Alright,” Zayn said, as if Isa ever wanted him to order anything else.

            “Will it come with a toy?” the toddler asked.

            “It sure will,” Zayn assured him. He kissed the top of the kid’s head, checked that he was safely buckled in one last time and then shut the door, going to the driver’s side and taking his own seat behind the wheel. “We’re going to take our food to one of baba’s friend’s, okay? He has a daughter about your age that you can play with!”

            “Okay! Does she like to play cars?”

            “I don’t know. You’ll have to ask her.”

            “Okay!”

 

            Liam’s apartment complex faced the outside; more like a small house than an apartment, and Isa curiously watched a butterfly circle the area until Liam opened the door.

            “Hey!” he greeted, stepping back but holding the door open for the others. “How are you guys?”

            “We’re good,” Zayn replied, watching as his kid immediately ran over to Zoey, who was on the floor playing with her My Little Ponies. “Sorry, that’s Isa. He hasn’t quite developed all of his manners yet.”

            “Until recently, Zoey thought it was funny to yell that she had to poop every time we were in public,” Liam shared, and Zayn laughed.

            “Kids,” he said.

            “Kids,” Liam agreed.

            Isa and Zoey did more playing than eating, but for once, Zayn didn’t interrupt. He knew that his son didn’t see other kids often unless it was a family member and Zayn thought the kid was really too excited to eat much. The toddlers got along so well that one would have thought they’d been growing up together all along, but of course Zayn could almost say the same about him and Liam with how easily they fell into comfortable conversation. Nothing too deep was brought up, but somehow, they kept conversing, even after they all finished their meals and the kids went back to the living room to play ponies and cars. Zayn and Liam sat on the couch watching, close enough for their knees to touch.

            Zayn told himself that it was only because Isa and Zoey were having so much fun that he and his son stayed until after dinner, which ended up being spaghetti that Liam and Zayn cooked together. After tiring of cars and ponies, Zayn and Liam took the kids outside to color with sidewalk chalk and then they walked around the apartment complex with both kids getting turns with Zoey’s purple bike (purple was her favorite color, she’d told Zayn three times and so Isa had, naturally, felt the need to remind Zayn three times that his favorite color was green.)

            They didn’t walk around long, because even though he didn’t say anything, Zayn could tell that Liam started to feel pain again after a few minutes, and when they got back inside, both kids crashed for a thirty minute nap, only to resume various games as soon as they both woke up.

            It was only when Isa climbed onto Zayn’s lap again and fell asleep a little after eight that night that the teacher decided he could put off leaving no longer.  

            “I guess I should be getting him home,” he commented, kissing the boy’s head like he did any chance he got.

            “The excitement from the day seems to have worn Zoey out too,” Liam said, smiling adoringly at the girl that was sitting in between the men, her eyes growing heavier by the minute. Zayn stood, being careful not to jar Isa too much, and Liam stood too, walking with Zayn to the door.  
            “I would walk you to your car, but I’m not supposed to pick up Zoey yet unless it’s absolutely necessary.”

            “Excuses, excuses,” Zayn teased. Liam, as he tended to do often, smiled.

            “But, I, um…I may need someone to take me to get groceries tomorrow.”

            Zayn widened his eyes in mock-shock.

            “Am I hearing this correctly? Are you actually asking for assistance?”

            “I can do it by myself,” Liam claimed, “but it would be more fun with you.”

            Zayn didn’t say that he doubted Liam’s ability to drive or walk around a grocery store, reaching up and leaning down for various items, yet. Instead, he gave a grin that he hoped wasn’t too big and said,

            “Pick you up around one? Is that good? Or do you need me to come earlier? Do you and Zoey have something to eat until then?”

            “One is fine,” Liam assured the other. “Thanks.”

            “No problem. See you tomorrow.”

            “Bye. See you. Thanks for coming over and bringing lunch. Oh! How much do I owe you?”

            “You let us eat your spaghetti,” Zayn pointed out, knowing that Liam wouldn’t take a simple ‘you don’t owe me anything’ for an answer. “We’re even.”

            Liam narrowed his eyes and Zayn smiled.

            “See you tomorrow, Liam. Bye Zoey!”

            Zoey didn’t reply, having laid to her side and fallen asleep sometime within the couple minutes the men had been standing.

            “Would you like me to carry her to bed?” Zayn asked.

            “I’ve got it,” Liam said, and he probably would have been able to do it, but Zayn shook his head anyway.

            “I don’t want you to pull a stitch. Please let me carry her for you?”

            “If you insist,” Liam sighed dramatically.

            Carefully, Zayn set Isa back down on the couch to lift Zoey and carry her to where Liam was leading him.

            “Wow. She wasn’t lying when she said that purple is her favorite color, was she?” he asked as he took in the purple bed spread, lamp shade, curtains and toy box.

            “She was not,” Liam said. Zayn laid the girl on the bed. Liam said he would change her into her pajamas in a minute and then he kissed the girl’s forehead before walking back out with Zayn.

            “Okay,” Zayn said. “See you tomorrow, for real this time.”

            “Yeah. Have a good night.”

            “You too.”

            Zayn was smiling as he walked to his car, strapping Isa into his car seat, and even when he got a mile or two down the road. He could have tried to control it, and probably would have succeeded, but he decided not to fight it right then. No one was around to tell him he was being ridiculous and that he shouldn’t get his hopes up, and so that was exactly what he did. 


	3. Chapter 3

            When Liam opened the door for Zayn the next afternoon, Zoey was right by his side and she waved excitedly when she saw Isa.

            “Hi, Zoey!” Isa said, once again letting himself in.

            “Don’t get too comfortable,” Zayn told the child as Liam laughed. “We’re about to go to the grocery.”

            “Can I get animal crackers?” Isa asked.

            “I suppose,” Zayn said with a sigh, like that wasn’t their tradition. To Liam, he explained, “I let Isa get animal crackers while I grocery shop. I know; there’s another reason not to nominate me for father of the year.”

            “Animal crackers are delicious,” Liam said. “As long as you pay for them at the end, I don’t see the problem.”

            “I swear I do feed him vegetables sometimes.”

            “Zayn,” Liam laughed lightly. “You don’t have to worry about me judging your parenting style, okay? I’m almost three years into this parenting thing and I still have no idea what I’m doing.”

            “Do parents ever really know what they’re doing, though, or do they just tell themselves they do so that they can sleep at night and not blame themselves when their kids turn into messes?”

            “I think the latter, or at least that’s what I tell myself,” Liam said.

            “For what it’s worth, I think you’re doing fine,” Zayn assured the other, earning himself an eye-dimpled grin. He added, “And Zoey’s hair looks very pretty today.”

            Somehow, Liam’s grin grew.

            “Thank you! It only took three Youtube videos to figure it out.”

            “That’s not bad for a bun.”

            “Speaking of buns, remind me to get hamburger buns at the store,” Liam said. The change of subject made Zayn laugh.

            “We better go now then. My short-term memory isn’t always the greatest.”

 

            As Zayn had predicted, Liam did his best to load the kart all by himself, but, soon after arriving, Zayn snatched his list-that was, indeed, missing hamburger buns-from his hand and  made it his mission to collect all the items. Liam, unlike Zayn, seemed to have a fairly decent short-term memory and recalled some of the list, and so he would try to race down certain isles and get his item before Zayn could, though he usually lost, as Zayn had the advantage of not having had surgery mere days ago. Zoey and Isa shrieked in delight the whole time, yelling at their dads to, ‘go, go, go!’

            “Thanks for all the help,” Liam said as he and Zayn finished putting away the purchases once they had reached the apartment again.

            “It was honestly no problem,” Zayn said. “I like to help.”

            “Want some ice cream?” Liam asked, re-opening the freezer he had just closed moments ago, and pulling out the double fudge ice cream he’d bought while raising a questioning eyebrow at Zayn.

            “If I ever turn down ice cream, I’m deathly ill and you should probably force me to see a doctor.”

            “I’ll take that as a yes. Isa?”

            “He loves ice cream even more than I love ice cream. Not that he gets it _that_ often, of course.”

            Liam rolled his eyes, but the smile on his face kept the action from being rude. After retrieving two small bowls from a nearby cupboard and two cones from another (after verifying that Zayn did, indeed prefer bowls over cones, and Isa cones over bowls), Liam scooped out four servings of ice cream, and then the men led the children to the front `1step to eat.

            “Harry told me you’re a teacher,” Liam commented after the adults had been silent for a couple minutes, watching the kids as they talked, laughed and licked their cones. “Sorry you’re wasting precious days of your summer helping a near-cripple.”

            “Community service looks good on my career,” Zayn teased. “This is better than picking up garbage from the side of the road.”

            “I’m flattered.”

            “You should be. What do you do, if I may ask?”

            Zayn saw the corners of Liam’s mouth twitch downward as he ran a hand through his hair, but before he could tell him that he didn’t have to answer-though he was now even more curious-Liam replied.

            “I…um…dance.”

            “Dance?”

            “Without a whole lot of clothing.”

            “Ah,” Zayn said. “That’s hot.”

            “Right.”

            “No, I’m serious. You’ve got the look for it.”

            “A little less so now, with this surgery scar.”

            “It will fade, and I’m willing to bet you’re still the hottest.”

            Blushing, Liam shook his head.

            “No.”

            “We’ll agree to disagree then.”

            “I know I should look into something else,” Liam said then, “but it’s good money and it allows me to spend the days with Zoey before Harry, my mum or one of my sisters watch her at night. She goes to sleep soon after I leave so it doesn’t put too much stress on anyone and…I don’t know, it’s the best option for me right now, I guess.”

            “It’s a perfectly legal way of making money,” Zayn said, attempting to comfort the other man from his obvious distress. “Anyone who judges can flutter off into their self-righteous cloud of rainbows.”

            Liam laughed out loud, so hard that he snorted. He covered his mouth and nose for a moment, the red tint forming on his face again, but he was still giggling as he lowered his hand.

            “You’re funny,” he said.

            “Glad someone thinks so,” Zayn told him. “If you don’t mind me asking, who do you dance for? Men? Women?”

            “Both, at two different clubs.”

            “That’s not a conflict of interest?”

            Liam shrugged.

            “They don’t care as long as I do my job for them while I’m there.”

            “How many nights a week do you work then?”

            “Normally six or seven. Right now, I’m off for a bit, of course.”

            “You work six or seven nights a week?!”

            Liam shrugged and Zayn shook his head.

            “I don’t care what anyone says or what you’re doing,” the teacher said. “That’s admirable.”

            “Thank you,” Liam said, sounding like he really meant it.

            “Just telling it like it is.”

 

            Once the four were finished with their ice cream, the adults decided to take their children to a nearby park. It wasn’t far, and Liam insisted he could walk there, so Zayn allowed it, though wouldn’t let the other man pull Isa and Zoey in Zoey’s wagon. The girl was highly amused by the fact that it was someone else pulling her wagon and she kept giggling and waving at Liam, who was walking by Zayn’s side, but would look every now and then to make sure both kids were safe and happy.

            “Hi, daddy,” Zoey said for what Zayn felt was around the fifth time.

            “Hi, Zoey,” Liam said for the same number of times.

            “Get in, daddy!” she said, and then it was Zayn and Liam’s turn to laugh.

            “I can’t get in the wagon,” Liam told her. “I would break it.”

            “I don’t know. These things are pretty durable,” Zayn disagreed.

            “Okay, well, I would break you,” Liam said.

            “I’m stronger than I look, thank you.”

            “I’m not saying you don’t look strong.”

            If Zayn didn’t know better, he would say that Liam gave an approving glance to the bit of bicep poking out from the bottom of Zayn’s sleeve, but he did know better, and so he knew that wasn’t what happened at all.

            “Well good,” the teacher said lamely. “Because I am.”

            “I believe you.”

            Liam fared much better than Zayn had expected during the fifteen minute walk to the park, but as he pushed Zoey on the swing-something he swore to Zayn he was perfectly fit to do-Zayn noted the other leaning to his side just slightly and subtly massaging the area where Zayn felt his healing wound would be.

            “Alright, tough stuff, move over,” Zayn said from next to Liam, where he was pushing his own child on a different swing.

            “What?” Liam asked, frowning in confusion and immediately straightening his posture.

            “Pushing Isa with one arm is making my arms feel all uneven…Like, one arm is going to be huge and muscular and the other is going to be a scrawny little noodle.”

            “A scrawny little noodle,” Liam repeated with a snort. “Fine, I’ll move aside, but only because you deserve it after that metaphor.”

            “Oh, yeah, say that again. I get so excited when people use atypical vocabulary words in a regular sentence.”

            Liam raised an eyebrow, looking as if he thought Zayn had lost his mind before his usual smile spread across his face again.

            “You’re an English teacher then?”

            “Yes, sir.”

            “Shouldn’t I be the one calling you sir, professor?”

            “Hm, perhaps, but then what shall I call you?”

            “Sugar lips,” Liam answered without even thinking about it, and Zayn was not proud of the loud cackle that came out of his mouth.

            “Sugar lips?!” he asked. “Do you actually go by that at your place of employment?”

            “No,” Liam admitted with a sheepish grin. “Some bloke called me that last week, though, and I grew a bit fond of it.”

            “It fits you,” Zayn decided with a nod after giving Liam’s full lips a too-long glance. “I don’t know about the taste, but by appearance…He nailed that one right on the head, sugar lips.”

            By the way Liam ducked his head, Zayn thought he may have made the man blush again, though he wouldn’t have been able to tell in the sun. He decided to feel proud of himself anyway.

            “Do you have a stage name though, for real?” Zayn questioned then.

            “Um, yeah,” Liam said, seeming embarrassed. He stroked his beard for a moment, but then he said, “I’m…Um…Well…I go by Romeo.”

            Zayn knew he was smiling obnoxiously wide and fought to pull it back a bit. When he succeeded, and was able to speak, he said,

            “I can totally see it.”

            “Hush,” Liam said, even though Zayn had meant it as a true compliment. “I’m not the one that came up with it.”

            “Uh-huh. Sure you’re not, Romeo.”

            “I’m not!”

            Even though Liam’s voice was defensive, he was still smiling, and so Zayn decided he could keep teasing him for a bit longer.

            “Whatever you say, Romeo.”

            “One of the guys I work with at the club gave it to me on my first day.”

            For some reason, that caused a pang of jealousy to hit Zayn. When he spoke again, he kept his tone light and teasing still, hoping to hide that there was genuine curiosity in his question.

            “Think this guy fancies you a bit, then?” he questioned.

            “Angelo? No way,” Liam said, as if the thought were ridiculous. “He has a husband.”

            “That doesn’t stop everyone,” Zayn pointed out and then, before Liam could have time to question whether or not he was speaking from personal experience, “I’m never going to be able to teach _Romeo and Juliet_ the same way again.”

            “ _Romeo and Juliet; Forced to Become Strippers After Being Resuscitated and Kicked out Due to Our Weird, Classic Love Affair_ ,” Liam mused.

            “Sounds more interesting than the original, honestly,” Zayn said.

            “I’m done!” Zoey announced, suddenly preparing to launch herself off the swing. Zayn stopped pushing both children immediately, rushing to help Zoey safely to the ground, where she took off running to the slide. Isa quickly followed, and then the two dads. While Liam helped the kids to the top of the slide, Zayn caught them as they flew down screaming, and helped them right themselves before they ran back to the other man, shrieking in delight.

            Before long, the kids wore themselves out, so the fathers loaded up the wagon and headed back to Liam’s apartment, the kids falling asleep only a minute into their walk.

            “Oh,” Liam said, not bothering to speak softly because it was clear that the kids would be dead to the world for a while, “Harry and Louis are going on a real date tonight.”

            “I know,” Zayn replied. “Louis called me last night to loudly express his excitement.”

            Liam gave a laugh, but assured Zayn, “Harry was pretty excited too.”

            After another beat, Liam asked,

            “I’m happy for him, but how did he get so lucky?”

            “It’s still pretty early into things,” Zayn rationalized. “Everything could still blow up in their faces and they find out they hate each other, or be left shattered to pieces.”

            Zayn felt Liam’s eyes on him, but refused to look over. After a moment, Liam snorted and then quickly said,

            “Sorry, I shouldn’t have laughed. Things didn’t end so well with Isa’s other dad then?”

            “No they did not, but you don’t need to hear about that.”

            “If you want to talk about it, I want to listen.”

            Zayn glanced back at Isa, who was still out cold, but trash talking his dad-even though trash talking him was really just telling the truth-with him in the vicinity made Zayn uncomfortable.

            “Maybe later,” he said to Liam, who gave an understanding nod.

 

            Liam insisted that he could carry Zoey inside once they arrived back at the apartment, and so Zayn didn’t even go in.

            “Are you going to need any assistance tomorrow?” he asked Liam once he had Isa situated comfortably in his arms.

            “My mum is taking Zoey shopping and I think I can take care of myself,” Liam said.

            “Alright then,” Zayn said, trying to sound nonchalant even though that wasn’t the answer he’d wanted at all. He wanted Liam to feel better, of course, but if he could fake illness or crippling pain for a little bit longer, Zayn wouldn’t complain. “I’ll see you around then, I guess.”

            “Yeah,” Liam said, the corners of his mouth quirking up but not forming a real smile. “Thanks for all of your help.”

            “It was honestly no problem.”

            “See you.”

            “Yeah, uh…Bye.”

            For an awkward couple of moments, Liam and Zayn stood there, their children in their arms, just staring at each other. Then, with the briefest of smiles, Zayn turned on his heel and walked to his car, not feeling nearly as positive as he had while leaving the previous day.

            His mood only worsened when Garrett called later that evening explaining that he had family coming in from far away, and could he please have Isa back a day early? He promised to let Zayn keep him an extra day next time, which would be nice when that time came, but Zayn wasn’t at all happy about the present situation. Still, he wasn’t a terrible person, and so he took Isa home early the next morning before heading home to read, seemingly his only hobby these days.

            His mundane day was broken up briefly by Louis calling to tell Zayn how absolutely amazing his date with Harry was, and was less than a week enough time to fall in love?

            That had gotten a genuine smile from Zayn, who truly thought that Harry could be the man Louis had so patiently been waiting for his entire life. Louis, even though he was told it was unrealistic, dreamed of a love worthy of the cinemas; where he would meet a man under dramatic circumstances and be knocked off his feet. He may have gotten that wish a little more literally than he’d expected, but so far it was all working out, and so Zayn would remain hopeful for him. Despite how he’d made it seem to Liam, he was not anti-love and his heart hadn’t been broken beyond repair. It had been broken, yes, but he was already starting to heal and he knew that one day, if he found the right person, he would be able to love again and trust them if they told him that they loved him too.

            Louis couldn’t talk to Zayn too long because he was meeting Harry for dinner and then it was just Zayn and his book again until the teacher’s phone buzzed nearly an hour later. Glancing over, Zayn saw a text message from Liam and dropped his book in his rush to pick up his phone.

            _Maybe I do need you,_ the man had typed out, leaving Zayn equal parts worried and excited.

            _Everything ok?_   Zayn asked.

            _I’m dying of boredom,_ Liam replied, causing Zayn to laugh out loud. He told Liam so.

            _It’s not funny. This is a serious matter_ , Liam said next.

            _So sorry,_ Zayn apologized, not feeling guilty over the fact that he was still giggling a little bit. _How can I help?_

 _I don’t know…,_ Liam claimed, and Zayn would have invited him over, but he wasn’t sure if Liam was fit to drive yet (though, rest assured, he would do it anyway).  Zayn also wasn’t going to invite himself over to Liam’s apartment, even though he felt that Liam was hinting at him coming over anyway, and so he gave the first idea he came up with.

            _Is anything on at the cinema that you want to see?_

It took only seconds for Liam to reply.

            _I like all kinds of movies! What do you like?_

Just a little over thirty minutes later, Zayn was pulling up to the cinema with Liam in his car, ready to see some new film about aliens. Zayn hadn’t heard of it before, but he had told Liam that he, too, enjoyed all sorts of films and so Liam had closed his eyes and picked a movie at random. The movie probably wasn’t going to win any awards, but it was enjoyable enough, and Zayn would watch a hundred movies like it if that meant getting to be with Liam.

            “Thanks for coming with me,” Liam said, buckling up once the pair was back in the car.

            “Yeah, thanks for paying,” Zayn said. “You really didn’t have to do that, especially since I know you’re off work for a bit.”

            “It’s okay,” Liam assured him. “Did you like the film?”

            “It was interesting.”

            Liam and Zayn spent the first half of the car ride discussing the film that they had just watched and both of their verdicts were the same.

            “It was just nice to watch a movie that wasn’t about, like, Barbies or fairies or something,” Liam had said.

            “Barbie movies don’t sound so bad,” Zayn said. “Ken is kind of hot.”

            “Yeah, but Barbie and Ken broke up a long time ago and so Ken has been banned from all movies.”

            “They broke up?!”

            “Yeah…”

            “What the hell?! Why?!”

            “I don’t know, Zayn, but I’m sorry that it’s clearly upsetting you,” Liam said, humor in his voice.

            “They were relationship goals, man,” Zayn sighed. “Oh well. I guess it’s true that all good things must end.”

            “Speaking of…Kind of…Not really, but, anyway, I meant it yesterday when I said that I’ll listen if you ever want to talk,” Liam changed the subject. Zayn let out another, genuine, sigh, and Liam rushed to add,

            “You don’t have to tell me anything, obviously. I just meant that, like, if you want to…”

            “No, it’s okay,” Zayn said. “Sighing is a common reaction when I think of Garrett.”

            Zayn glanced over at Liam long enough to see the small smile on his face, but he looked curious too, and maybe even concerned. Zayn continued,

            “I told you this part in the hospital, but you were really drugged up, so I don’t know if you remember, but I married him really young because he was cute and rich and interested, so what more could I have asked for? He’s eight years older than I am. We started dating when I was eighteen and married when I was nineteen. Obviously, that was way too soon, at least for us, because it became clear really quickly that we had no idea who we married. We’re completely different people, and opposites may attract, but that doesn’t mean they should be together because we never agreed on anything. I knew that he wanted kids someday and so I suggested we have a baby. I thought it would make him happy. Long story short, it didn’t. He loves Isa, and there’s no doubt in my mind that he wanted him, but that didn’t make him want me any longer, and so he started having an affair with some bloke that he works with. It went on for a year before I found out by, naturally, walking in on them. I had got off work early with a migraine and it was their lunch break, so they ran to our place for a quickie and they didn’t have time to hide because they were right inside on the couch.”

            “Wow,” Liam said, drawing out the ‘o’ for quite a while. Then, “what a douche nugget.”

            “Douche nugget?” Zayn asked, not being able to keep himself from laughing.

            “Yeah,” Liam replied nonchalantly. “I learned it from my American friend.”

            “I like it and it’s a very good description of him, in my humble opinion.”

            “Well, it’s obvious Garrett downgraded, so he played himself,” Liam commented.

            “How do you know if he downgraded or not?” Zayn questioned.

            “I doubt the bloke was as good looking as you, and he definitely wasn’t as sweet.”

            Zayn bit the insides of his cheeks to keep his grin in check. He wasn’t sure he was doing a great job at hiding the red tint he felt was fighting to rise to his face, but he hoped.

            “I like how you didn’t want to talk down on him in front of Isa, though,” Liam spoke again. “Sorry that I brought it up with him right there.”

            “It’s okay,” Zayn assured him. “He was asleep, so I’m sure he wouldn’t have heard anyway, but I just wanted to be safe. Isa is smart, and I’m not just saying that. I would admit if my kid was dumb as a rock, but he’s got brains, and so he’ll realize soon enough that his other father is a douche nugget.”

            Even though Liam had been the one to introduce Zayn to that phrase, he laughed until he was in pain, and then he leaned his head back against the headrest, letting out a deep sigh.

            “Do you want to come inside once we get to my place?” Liam asked then.

            “Yeah, I can,” Zayn replied, trying to keep it cool, like he tended to do.

            “Alright, but do you actually _want_ to?”

            Zayn couldn’t help it; he had to grin a little bit like an idiot.

            “Yes,” he replied, “I do.”

 

            “Would you like water or anything?” Liam asked, pouring himself a glass as he got out one of his pain pills.

            “No, thank you,” Zayn said. “You’re still in a lot of pain?”

            “Not a lot,” Liam claimed. “I just think I tore a stitch laughing at you.”

            Liam winked-and Zayn didn’t think most people actually winked in real life, but he was glad that Liam was someone who did-and he laughed.

            “Sorry, I should have warned you before that I’m a comedic genius.”

            “I’m quickly discovering that.”

            Zayn let himself smile, but turned the conversation right back around on Liam.

            “I’m sorry that you’re still in pain,” he told him, and he was. He didn’t like seeing Liam wince every time he moved a way that shouldn’t hurt. Even though Liam was clearly in a better state than on the first night Zayn had met him, he knew that it had to have felt like forever since the man wasn’t sick or in pain.

            “That’s okay,” Liam said, because of course he did. “I’ll be back to normal soon enough.”

            “I hope so,” Zayn told him, and he did, even though he was selfishly dreading it because when Liam felt good and went back to his normal every day activities, Zayn doubted he would need him anymore.

            All he could do (and he’d been doing a lot of it; too much, even) was hope that he still wanted him around anyway.          

         


	4. Chapter 4

            Time went quickly whenever Zayn was with Liam, which was ironic, because that was when, much like whenever he had Isa, he wanted time to slow down. Before the two knew it, though, it was nearing six in the evening and Zayn was just rising to his feet to go and use the toilet when a knock on the door made the both of them jump.

            “Daddy!” they heard a high-pitched voice from the other side of the door. “I’m home!”

            “Wow, it’s that late already?” Liam spoke Zayn’s exact thoughts out loud when he’d spared a glance at his watch.

            “Daddy!”

            “Coming, sweetheart!”

            “Hi, daddy!” Zoey exclaimed once Liam had opened the door, hugging her father around the legs quickly before darting inside. It looked as if she had a clear mission in her mind, but she stopped dead in her tracks when she saw that Zayn was there as well. At first, it looked as if she didn’t know what to think, but then Zayn was relieved when a smile spread across her face.

            “Hi, Isa!” she said.

            “No, Zo, that’s Zayn,” Liam explained calmly as a woman that Zayn hadn’t noticed before entered the apartment. Her arms and hands were filled with shopping bags, even after Liam had taken some from her. “Isa is his son.”

            “Where’s Isa?” she asked then, so Zayn could see where he rated in things. He wasn’t offended, though, and gave a small laugh.

            “Isa is with his other daddy,” Zayn told the child.

            “Oh. Okay!” she said, and then she surprised Zayn by running over and giving his legs a hug as well. Smiling, Liam said,

            “Zayn, this is my mum, Karen, and, mum this is my new mate, Zayn; the one I met in the Emergency Room.”

            The way he said that hinted that he had mentioned Zayn to his mom before, and Zayn couldn’t help but to feel a little smug.

            “It’s nice to meet you, Zayn,” Karen said, setting down the multiple bags she was holding to shake the other’s hand.

            “You too,” he assured her.

            “I was just about to fix some dinner for everyone. Will you be staying?” the woman asked in the super polite manner that Liam must have gotten from her.

            “Oh, I should go,” Zayn said. He didn’t want to, of course, but he wasn’t going to invite himself to stay over for dinner with Liam’s family.

            “Are you sure?” Liam asked, almost right away. “My mum’s cooking is amazing. I know almost everyone says that about their mum’s cooking, but I’m telling the truth.”

            “It’s family time,” Zayn said, not wanting to sound desperate, but also hoping that Liam wouldn’t accept that as a no and let him leave. Luckily, the other man shook his head.

            “No, it’s not, he said.  “You should stay…If you want to. Right, mum?”

            “Of course,” Karen said, smiling. Zayn suddenly knew where Liam’s bright grin came from as well, and he couldn’t help but to smile too.

            “Okay, if you’re sure.”

            “Nope, changed my mind. You should go now,” Liam said, and Zayn knew he was joking, but Zoey protested.

            “No!” she shrieked, her voice somehow going even higher-pitched than normal. Zayn nearly jumped.

            “Okay, fine,” Liam said, looking shocked by the girl’s reaction as well, but not unamused. “You can stay, Zayn, but only because Zoey wants you to.”

            “Oh, that’s the only reason, huh?”

            “No, I want you to also,” Liam caved. Zayn gave a slight laugh.

            “In that case, I suppose I will stay. Karen, do you need any help with dinner?”

           

            Liam’s mom gave the men tiny tasks to do, but for the most part, she took care of the cooking by herself. Once Zayn was assured that there was nothing else at all that she needed help with, he took a seat by Zoey, who was coloring in her _Frozen_ coloring book, concentrating so hard that her tongue was sticking out.

            “That’s very pretty, Zoey,” Zayn complimented the girl.

            “Color!” she demanded, slamming a crayon down in front of Zayn.

            “You want me to color?” he verified. The girl nodded, so Zayn began to color in the picture on the page next to the one that Zoey was working on.

            “That’s really good,” Liam complimented, leaning against the front of the mini-breakfast bar where Zoey and Zayn were sitting. Zayn at first thought that he was talking to his daughter, but when he looked up, he saw the man’s eyes trained right on him.

            “It’s not hard to color in Elsa, Liam,” Zayn said.

            “Speak for yourself,” Liam said, doing that wink that would be obnoxious if anyone else did it, but was quite appealing when it was him. Zayn took that moment to mentally apologize to Karen for the things he wanted to do to her son.

 

            “I like peas,” Zoey commented as the four took their seats at the table to eat and she saw the chosen vegetable of the night. “Does Isa like peas?”

            “He does,” Zayn answered.

            “Sorry, but Isa is your son, Zayn?” Karen asked, that near-permanent grin on her face.

            “Yes,” Zayn replied with a quick nod. “He’s just a few months older than Zoey.”

            “How do you know that he likes peas?” Liam asked Zayn. “I thought you only fed him McDonald’s, ice cream and animal crackers?”

            “Ha-ha,” Zayn said sarcastically. “Looks like we have another comedic genius over here.”

            “I’m pretty funny,” Liam agreed. “Or at least Zoey thinks so. Maybe she just thinks my face is funny, though.”

            “I don’t think that’s it,” Zayn assured him. It was then that he noticed Karen’s eyes darting back and forth between Zayn and her son, an even wider smile on her face. When she made eye contact with Liam, she raised an eyebrow and, in turn, Liam narrowed his eyes. Zayn smiled and looked down at his plate, deciding to pretend that he noticed nothing.

            For a few minutes, the group ate and made light conversation, mainly about the kids. Karen didn’t ask Zayn many questions about himself, but Zayn didn’t know if that was because she didn’t want to make him feel uncomfortable, she didn’t care or because Liam had told her most things already. Zayn hoped for the last option, though knew that was the least likely.

            Zayn was almost finished eating when his phone rang.

            “Sorry,” he apologized, fishing the mobile from his pocket and sighing when he saw the name reflected up at him.

            “Garrett?” Liam asked.

            “Did I make it that obvious?” Zayn said with a smile, and then, “Sorry, I’ll be right back.”

            Zayn answered the phone as he walked to the living area.

            “Hey.”

            “Hey, what did you feed Isa?” Garrett asked. So, great. This was already promising to be a lovely conversation.

            “Food,” Zayn answered, not caring if it was a childish reply. Garrett had always told him he was immature, so Zayn might as well let him be right about something in life.

            (Yep, one year later and Zayn was definitely not bitter at all.)

            “Okay, smart arse,” Garrett said, clearly not appreciating his ex’s response. “Well, Isa is sick now, so you had to have fed him something bad.”

            “Sick, how?”

            “He’s thrown up twice in the last thirty minutes.”

            “Poor kid. I feel bad for him, but have you considered that he might have a stomach bug?”

            “In the summer?”

            “It can happen.”

            “Whatever, Zayn. Anyway, seeing as how my family left for the night and I can’t take Isa out in public like this, can you bring over some Pedialyte?”

            “Sure,” Zayn said, only agreeing so easily because it was for his son. “I’ll be there soon.”

            “See you.”

            “You’re welcome,” Zayn muttered as he locked his phone, having already heard the click that meant Garrett had disconnected.

 _It’s for Isa,_ the teacher reminded himself as he let out another sigh and went back to the kitchen.

            “Hey, guys, sorry, but I have to go, for real now. Isa is sick and I need to take him over some stuff.”

            “Poor thing,” Liam said with a frown. “I hope he feels better soon.”

            “I’m sure it’s nothing serious,” Zayn assured him. “I just hope it’s nothing that Zoey catches.”

            “It’s all part of being a kid,” Liam said. “They get sick sometimes.”

            “Tell Garrett that,” Zayn muttered, and then changed shades when he realized that he’d said it out loud. “Oh, um…Anyway, I’ll come back later to help clean up.”

            “Don’t be silly,” Karen said. “I’ve got it.”

            Typically, Zayn would have been more stubborn on his stance, but he had to go, and so he nodded and made to grab his plate and at least dump the rest of his food and put the dish in the sink, but Karen touched his hand gently and briefly.

            “I’ve got it, dear,” she said again. “Go be with your precious boy.”

            Once again, Zayn nodded.

            “Thanks, everyone. Karen, it was nice to meet you. Liam…talk to you later?”

            “Yeah,” Liam assured Zayn, making his heart skip happily. “Thanks for going to the cinema with me and coming over and stuff!”

            “Thanks for inviting me. Bye, Zoey!”

            “Bye, Zay!”

            “ _Zayn_ , Zo. There’s an ‘n’ at the end,” Liam explained patiently to his child. To the other man, he offered a small smile. “I promise she’ll get it one day.”

            “I believe it,” Zayn said. “See you guys.”

 

            “Baba!” Isa cried in his pathetic, sick voice as soon as Zayn was in his child’s bedroom.

            “Hey, buddy,” Zayn said, leaning down to kiss the kid’s forehead. He didn’t feel warm, but that didn’t necessarily mean anything. Zayn fought against himself hard to not feel guilty when he had no reason to believe that something he did had made him sick and, even if so, he certainly hadn’t done it on purpose. “You don’t feel good?” Zayn said to his son.

            “No,” Isa said, snuggling against Zayn as the man took a seat on his bed. Zayn took to rubbing his back as the kid’s eyes grew heavier and heavier. It didn’t take long for him to fall asleep.

            “Should we wake him up and make him drink something?” Garrett asked when he entered the room a few minutes later.

            “Let him sleep,” Zayn said. “He can’t be too dehydrated if he’s only thrown up twice. He’ll be fine until he wakes.”

            Garrett nodded, not looking completely okay with the suggestion, but not fighting it for the time being.

            “Are you staying the night?” Garrett asked then.

            “Well, I don’t want to just up and leave while he’s asleep,” Zayn said.

            “You can stay,” the other man told him. “Do you want me to set up the guest bed?”

            “I can just stay here with him. He seems pretty comfortable,” Zayn said, and even though it wasn’t very comfortable for him personally, he wouldn’t dream of making his child move.

            “Okay,” Garrett said. “But if you change your mind, there are sheets in the closet by the bathroom.”

            “Thanks.”

            “Or…,” Garrett continued, a nervous half-smile on his face. “You could join me.”

            “That’s not happening,” Zayn said, creating a frown on his ex’s face immediately.

            “I wouldn’t take advantage,” he said.

            “I’m not sleeping with you, Garrett,” Zayn told him, “metaphorically or otherwise.”

            “Hope you get some sleep,” the other man spoke flatly. “Wake me up if he gets sick again.”

 

            As he figured, Zayn didn’t get much sleep, though he didn’t know if he was more physically uncomfortable in Isa’s bed or emotionally uncomfortable sleeping in the same house as Garrett-and with his earlier suggestion ringing loudly in Zayn’s ears hours after he’d left the room. What had made him think that sleeping together in anyway was ever going to be a possibility again? Zayn may be the immature one, but he stuck to his opinion that he was the smarter of the two.

            Needless to say, by the time Zayn went back to his place the next morning, he was in desperate need of sleep, a shower and a drink or two.

            _Hey! How is Isa?_

            Zayn read the text from Liam after he’d parked his car in the garage. He was much too tired to spend time texting, though, so instead, he called Liam.

            “Hello?” the man answered, sounding confused, and maybe even worried.

            “Hey,” Zayn said. “Sorry, I hope you don’t mind that I’m calling. I’m exhausted, so I don’t trust my fingers to text right now.”

            “Oh. That’s okay!” Liam assured him. “You do sound tired.”

            “Yeah. But Isa’s alright,” Zayn said. “He did get sick one more time while I was there, but then he slept for a long while and was able to eat and drink this morning. If anything, I think it was a twelve-hour bug. Garrett thinks it was something I fed him, so who knows?”

            “Oh, it’s all your fault, huh?” Liam asked lightly.

            “Always is,” Zayn said with a humorless laugh, holding the phone between his ear and his shoulder as he stripped down to his boxers.

            “That’s s-h-i-t,” Liam commented, so, clearly, Zoey was somewhere nearby.

            “It’s whatever,” Zayn said.

            “Well, I’ll let you go,” Liam said. “I just wanted to check in on Isa.”

            “Thanks for that,” Zayn told him, collapsing onto his bed and closing his eyes, but continuing to speak. “How is everyone there?”

            “We’re fine,” Liam replied.

            “Yeah? Do you need anything?”

            “No, thanks. I think I’ve got it now, and I mean it this time.”

            “That’s good,” Zayn said, and then threw caution to the wind and admitted, “though I am selfishly a bit disappointed about it.”

            “What do you mean?” Liam asked.

            “Well, if you’re perfectly fine, I have no excuse to see you.”

            “You need an excuse?”

            “Don’t I?”

            “No,” Liam said with a small laugh. “Actually, my mum offered to watch Zoey sometime if I ever want to take you out. Well, she said, ‘if you want to ask that cute boy out,’ but I know who she meant.”

            “Do you _want_ to ask him?” Zayn questioned, smiling widely and opening his eyes for a brief second before realizing that they were too tired, even with the burst of adrenaline he was experiencing, and closing them again.

            “I do,” Liam admitted.

            “That cute boy would love that, then.”

            “Really?”

            “Yeah.”

            “This average boy is glad.”

            “You’re definitely not average,” Zayn told the other man with a laugh, even though he meant it.

            “You’re nice,” the other commented.

            “No, I’m serious,” Zayn said. “I don’t put my balls on the line by hitting on average men in emergency rooms.”

            “Aw, you were hitting on me?”

            “Wow, I’m only letting that slide because you were dying, but yes, Liam, it was very clear that I was hitting on you when I asked for Zoey’s cute dad’s name, I thought.”

            “I don’t recall that,” Liam said.

            “I know, because you were dying.”

            “I came through only in the hopes to see you again someday.”

            “Right,” Zayn said after giving a loud, embarrassing cackle.

            “Well, hey, at least I’m comforted now knowing that your standards are low,” Liam spoke.

            “Stop, you’re breaking my heart, Liam,” Zayn said, and his tone was light, but he honestly didn’t like the thought that maybe Liam wasn’t the biggest fan of himself.

            “I’m kidding,” Liam claimed. “I have a healthy self-esteem. Actually, I think it may be a little too high now that you agreed to go on a date with me. Wait, can I call it a date?”

            “Well, yeah. I thought that was the point,” Zayn said.

            “Just checking,” Liam told him. “My dating skills are rusty.”

            “Mine are too,” Zayn said, “though I may recall that we need to pick a time and day for our date.”

            “Would tonight be too soon?” Liam asked. “I know it’s short notice, but you don’t have Isa and I go back to work this weekend.”

            “You go back to work this weekend?!” Zayn repeated incredulously. “Your stitches aren’t even out yet!”

            “I’ll take it easy,” Liam promised, “but I do have bills and such.”

            “Yeah, I guess that is an issue,” Zayn agreed. “Do you need help with anything, like…Money wise?”

            “No!” Liam said, laughing in a way that suggested that Zayn was ridiculous for asking such a thing. “That’s really sweet of you to ask, though.”

            “Yeah, yeah. Tonight is fine, if you want to go out. As long as you give me time to get some sleep and help myself to look human again, and if nothing else happens with Isa, I’m free.”

            “Cool,” Liam said. “We’ll come up with the game plan later. For now, get some sleep and if something comes up, just let me know and we’ll reschedule. It’s really no problem.”

            “Okay,” Zayn told him, “but I hope we don’t have to.”

            “Me too,” Liam agreed.

            “Call you when I wake up so we can come up with a better plan?”

            “Yeah, sounds good. No rush. Get some sleep.”

            “Trust me, I will. I’ll talk to you soon.”

            “Bye, Zayn.”

            Zayn disconnected the call so that he could sleep, shower and spend a good while deciding what he was going to wear.

            But first, he called Louis to freak out.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I got this chapter done early and, since there isn't much going on and it's pretty dialogue-based, I didn't want to post it as a main chapter next week. So...bonus! 
> 
> I promise the action is coming soon!


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know this one took a little longer to post, but it's quite a bit lengthier, so I hope you enjoy! : )

            Zayn shouldn’t have been nervous for his date with Liam. They’d gone to see a movie-just the two of them-the previous day, and then Zayn had gone over to the other man’s place and spent a couple hours with him. He knew that he and Liam had fun together and that it wasn’t awkward, with or without Harry and Louis or the kids. Zayn supposed it was the actual label-‘date’-that had him uneasy. He was excited, and he definitely wanted to go out with Liam, but the fact that Liam had asked him meant that Liam was interested in him as well, at least until Zayn messed up and said something to change the other’s mind.

            Liam had insisted on picking Zayn up that night and when a minute passed from when he was supposed to be there, Zayn’s nerves only grew. By the time two more minutes had passed, Zayn came to the conclusion that he’d been stood up and was about to kick off his shoes and crawl in bed with a bottle of something or other when his doorbell rang. Almost as if he was connected to the bell, Zayn hopped off the couch immediately, but made sure to walk slower than usual to the door so he didn’t seem too eager.

            “Hi!” Liam said with a bright smile as Zayn opened the door. “Sorry I’m a bit late. Zoey wanted to pack her whole room for her night with nana, so it took more trips in and out than expected.”

            “That’s okay,” Zayn said, laughing a little, mainly out of relief.

            “Good,” Liam sighed while simultaneously grinning. “I was hoping you wouldn’t think I changed my mind.”

            “Of course not. I’m ready if you are.”

 

            The plan was to go to dinner and then head to an arcade. The only arcade Zayn had been to in years was a child’s one with an indoor playland, and most of that time he had spent rescuing Isa from the top because, apparently, his child had inherited Zayn’s fear of heights, but also insisted on going to the very top of the structure over and over.

            Just like with the movie, neither Liam nor Zayn cared where they ate, and after a minute of going back and forth between, ‘I don’t care; you choose,’ and ,’No, you choose. Anything is fine, honestly,” Liam finally pulled up the list of restaurants nearby that his GPS was suggesting and had Zayn pick one at random. The result was nothing fancy; just a slightly upscale sports bar, but that was fine. Zayn had lived the ‘fancier’ lifestyle for a while with Garrett and had since decided that that kind of life was vastly over-rated.

            “You sure this is good?” Liam verified as he pulled in and parked.

            “As long as there’s food and you, then yes,” Zayn answered, and he shouldn’t have felt so good about himself when that made Liam smile, because Liam was nearly always smiling, but he did.

            “Do you drink?” Zayn asked as he and Liam were seated, given their menus and left alone to decide on what they wanted.

            “I do,” Liam said. “That’s one perk of my job; being drunk is pretty much expected.”

            “That’s a pretty big perk, if you ask me,” Zayn said. “You don’t know how tempting it is to run out on my lunch break and have a drink or two.”

            “So why don’t you?” Liam asked, and Zayn thought he was teasing him, but he wasn’t sure, so he gave an answer that could go either way.

            “Because I’d be drinking alone and I try not to do that. Not that often, at least.”

            Liam grinned, accepting that answer as he lifted his menu to get a better look.       

            “Were you hinting that you want to drink tonight?” the dancer asked.        

            “Maybe,” Zayn replied, but then a thought occurred to him. “Oh, you’re still on pain medicine though, aren’t you?”

            “I didn’t take one today,” Liam said.

            “So that’s a yes to the alcohol?”

            “Why not? We’ve got all night.”

 

            Though Zayn had told the truth when he said that he didn’t drink alone _that_ often-just once or twice a month, probably- he still went out with Louis at least once every other week and so he’d built up quite a tolerance over the years. Liam, on the other hand, quickly admitted that he didn’t drink often, even when working, because he didn’t like to go home to Zoey intoxicated. He still held his alcohol well, but Zayn could tell the difference between the two when, after the second drink, Zayn was only just starting to feel his muscles relax and Liam was already to the giggling stage.

            It probably also didn’t help that all Zayn had were a couple of beers while Liam was nursing the so-called ‘girly,’ drinks, which Zayn knew had a much higher alcohol content than beer, typically. That was how he always got Louis to think that Zayn had a higher tolerance than him when Zayn worked on a Bud Light while Louis threw back the cosmos and tequila shots.

            “I have an embarrassing confession,” Liam announced as he sucked on his straw obnoxiously to get every last remaining ounce of liquid from the bottom of his glass.

            “Are you sure you want to tell me then?” Zayn asked, eager to hear because he knew it wouldn’t change how he felt about Liam anyway, but he didn’t want Liam to say something that he would immediately regret. 

            “Yes,” Liam decided. “My tolerance dropped, like, really low after Zoey was born. That sounds weird, because I didn’t give birth to her, but, like I said, I just don’t really drink much now and so when I do I feel bubbly very quickly. I’m sorry.”

            “You’re fine,” Zayn assured the other, smiling endearingly, not even considering dragging Liam the way he would have his best friend.

            “If I act stupid, slap me.”

            “I’m not going to slap you.”

            “It’s for the greater good, honestly.”

            “I disagree. How about if you start acting stupid, I’ll just start drinking more so I can catch up to your level?”

            “Okay,” Liam said with a laugh.

            “Glad we’ve come to an agreement,” Zayn told him. “With that being said, would you like one more drink?”

            “Okay,” Liam said after moving his mouth side to side, contemplating it for a moment. “One more.”

 

            When the waitress came to drop off the check, Liam was in the bathroom and so Zayn took that as an opportunity to pay, handing his card to the woman right away. He’d been planning on footing the bill all along, but with Liam gone, it saved the initial argument of who was going to pay, and Liam was so stubborn and independent that it would be very difficult for Zayn to win.      

            “Welcome back,” Zayn greeted when Liam had returned to his seat. “How was your trip to the toilet?”

            “Quite extraordinary,” Liam told him. “I met a nice lad named Douglas in there.”

            After making shifty eyes around the restaurant, Liam leaned closer to Zayn and whisper-spoke.

            “He’s going to propose to his girlfriend tonight at a basketball game.”

            “That’s sweet,” Zayn said, and meant it. Liam smiled and leaned back, looking around, then at their table.

            “The check hasn’t come yet?”

            “It has,” Zayn said. “We’re just waiting on my card and then we can go.”

            “Oh, okay,” Liam said, and for a moment, Zayn couldn’t believe his luck, but then Liam froze and narrowed his eyes at him.

            “What?” Zayn asked, smiling innocently and taking a sip of his water.

            “I asked you out. I was supposed to pay. Those are the rules.”

            “Sorry, sweetheart. I should have warned you that I’m a rulebreaker.”

            “I was supposed to pay,” Liam said again.

            “Oh well. Too late now!” Zayn told him cheerily.

            “I wanted to pay,” Liam said, his voice pouty. Zayn couldn’t help but to laugh at him.

            “Well, I guess you’ll just have to take me out again,” Zayn said, pretending his heart didn’t pick up speed while he spoke.

            “Okay,” Liam said, though his eyes were still narrowed. “I’ll take you out again, but I’m paying at the arcade.”

            “Nope.”

            “Yep.”

            “I don’t think so.”

            “I know so.”

            “Rock-paper-scissors for it?”

            “Fine,” Liam said, getting his hands ready.

            “Alright,” Zayn said, getting prepared as well. “Rock, paper, scissors.”

            “Shit!” Liam exclaimed when he chose rock and Zayn chose paper, and then he looked around apologetically to make sure no one was offended by his language. “You cheated,” he said.

            “How do you cheat at rock-paper-scissors?” Zayn questioned.

            “You tell me,” Liam said. Zayn laughed.

            “I won. I’m paying.”

            “I think the loser should have to pay, actually,” Liam suggested.

            “Nope,” Zayn told him. Running out of ways to convince Zayn, Liam stuck out his bottom lip, widening his eyes to look even more like a puppy than usual. It was adorable, and maybe would have been heartbreaking under other circumstances, but all Liam succeeded in doing was making Zayn laugh again.

            “Not gonna work,” he said. Liam sighed dramatically.

            “Fine,” he finally gave in. “Next time is on me.”

            “Yes, sugar lips. Whatever you say.”

            “I’m serious.”

            “Alright.”

            Liam narrowed his eyes once more, unsure how to take Zayn, but then he smiled and straightened his posture.

            “So what arcade games do you like to play?”

 

            “I am the air hockey champion!” Liam proudly announced, literally patting himself on the back, and Zayn rolled his eyes, but couldn’t hide the fact that he was smiling.

            “You cheated,” he claimed, putting down his puck and walking over to Liam, who put an arm around Zayn’s waist and pulled him ever so slightly closer.

            “How do you cheat at air hockey?” he asked, looking down the short distance between him and Zayn and staring him directly in the eyes.

            “You tell me,” Zayn said, clearing his throat subtly afterward, unsure of why his voice was suddenly struggling. Well, he wasn’t really unsure, but the truth was embarrassing, so he preferred not to think about it.

            “I would tell you, but I’m not a cheater,” Liam told him, his thumb gently drawing circles in Zayn’s hip.

            “Good,” Zayn said weakly, though he thought (and sincerely hoped) that the sound was only off to his own ears. “Cheaters are awful.”

            “The worst,” Liam agreed, sliding his arm from around Zayn’s waist, but taking his hand. Zayn would blame the alcohol, but he knew that the effects from the booze had at least mostly faded, as Liam’s eyes were clear and his voice (unlike Zayn’s) back to normal, instead of having the slightly higher pitch it had taken while Liam was tipsy.

            “Where to next?”

            Typically, Zayn was a bit of a competitive person. He wasn’t ridiculous about it. He wouldn’t boast if he won or throw a fit if he lost, but he did like winning. Never would he ever think he would let someone beat him at something, unless it was Isa, but he found himself doing just that with Liam when, five arcade games later, air hockey was the only thing that he had won. Liam wasn’t a sore loser, but Zayn knew that if it was him, he would be frustrated and so when they got to the racing games, he hit the wall a few too many times to make it through the finish line before Liam. Also like Zayn, Liam wasn’t a sore winner, but he did smile and do a happy dance in his seat when he beat Zayn, so Zayn knew that making himself lose had been worth it.

            The pair stayed until the arcade closed, and then they went to a 24-hour restaurant to eat yet again.

            “You said Zoey was staying all night at your mum’s, right?” Zayn asked as the two received their food, somehow only then realizing that it was after three in the morning.

            “Yeah,” Liam said, sticking a whole chip in his mouth and eating it before finishing, “she didn’t want me to rush home.”

            “You mum is nice,” Zayn commented.

            “She is,” Liam agreed. “She said the same thing about you.”

            “What else did she say about me?” Zayn asked, smiling as he popped his own chip into his mouth. Liam, naturally, returned the grin.

            “That you were cute.”

            “I know that already. What else?”

            “She didn’t talk about you that much,” Liam said with a small laugh.

            “Oh,” Zayn said, his shoulders slumping a little. Liam raised an eyebrow.

            “Do you have a thing for my mum or something?”

            “She’s a lovely woman,” Zayn said with an ornery smile, pausing just a bit before adding, “but, no. I am gay.”

            “Oh, okay. That’s good. It would be a little awkward if you had a thing for my mum, seeing as how she’s married.”

            “That’s the only reason it would be awkward then?” Zayn asked teasingly.

            “There might be other reasons.”

            “Hm,” Zayn hummed, taking a sip of his water. Liam grinned and quickly finished off his chips before speaking.

            “When do you get Isa again?”

            “Saturday, and I have him until Wednesday morning.”

            “We should get the kids together again, if you think you two would want that.”

            “We’d love that,” Zayn assured the other.

            “Cool,” Liam said with a nod. “I don’t leave for work until around seven thirty, so I’m free all of the days until then.”

            “How many days are you working in a row?” Zayn questioned.

            “I’ll be off the Monday after next,” Liam told him. Zayn shook his head in disbelief.

            “You’re quite a wonder, Romeo.”

 

            “Thank you for accepting the date…and then selfishly paying without my permission,” Liam said to Zayn as he pulled up next to his house and put his car in park.

            “The pleasure was mine,” Zayn said, pausing with his hand on the car door handle. He wanted to invite Liam inside, but was afraid of rejection. Realistically, he knew that Liam probably wouldn’t tell him no. Zayn was a man and he knew that it was rare for a man to say no to sex after the first date, or often even before. However, there was still a possibility, and that unnerved him.

            Perhaps even worse would be the scenario in which Liam accepted, and then Zayn didn’t live up to his expectations. Embarrassingly, he hadn’t been sexually active since Garrett because every time he even got somewhere within the realm of intimacy, all he could picture was his ex-husband deep inside another man, staring at Zayn with shock, but not regret as he continued to move slowly up and down, apparently figuring that, while he was already caught in the act, he might as well finish.

             That alone would be enough to hinder anyone’s performance, but Zayn had to wonder just how good he’d been to begin with when the only person he had experience with had found someone else to satisfy most of his needs. Yes, Zayn had heard from his mother that he shouldn’t blame himself; the fact that Garrett cheated meant that there was something wrong with Garrett, not Zayn, but Zayn still had doubts.

            So, instead of asking Liam to come inside, Zayn simply said,

            “Let me know when you’re home?”

            “Okay,” Liam said, smiling kindly enough, but Zayn still felt bad. He didn’t feel bad enough to change his mind and ask Liam to come in, but he did still feel a little guilty.

            “Have a good rest of your night…Er, morning,” Zayn added, popping the door but not opening it all of the way.

            “Thanks, you too!”

            Zayn nodded and then belatedly offered a smile before hurrying out of the car clumsily. If Liam noticed the way he almost hit himself with the door and then almost fell over avoiding said door, he gave no indication. He simply gave a wave while making it clear that he was staying in park until Zayn was inside.

            Once Zayn had entered his house and locked up behind himself, he let out a sigh and leaned dramatically with his back against the door. The date had gone well except for Zayn acting like an idiot at the end, but, like a song, Zayn felt that the end of a date might be the most important part.

            Luckily, he was much too tired to dwell on it, though, and he collapsed on his bed and fell asleep still fully clothed right after receiving the text from Liam that he’d made it home okay.

 

            When Zayn woke the next morning, he had a missed call from Louis as well as an unread text from the man, saying,

            _Hey, want to go to lunch with Liam, Harry and yours truly?_

Checking the clock, Zayn saw that it was only just after ten thirty, so he might still have time to agree to lunch. Without even getting up to use the toilet, like he typically did right when he woke up, he called Louis.

            “Nice to hear from you!” the other man answered. “I was just about to come to your place and see if you’d died.”

            “I just woke up,” Zayn explained.

            “I can tell,” Louis said. “Did Liam wear you out last night?”

            “Not for reasons you think,” Zayn replied. “Are you all still going to lunch?”

            “Yep. You coming?”

            “Yeah. When and where?”

 

            Zayn was the last to arrive at lunch and Louis ‘tsked’ before he even had time to apologize for being five minutes late.

            “Tardy, Mr. Malik,” the man said in his most condescending voice. “I’m quite ashamed of you. That will be a detention with Mr. Payne tomorrow.”

            “Mr. Payne?” Zayn asked as he took the only available seat next to Liam. Before anyone had time to answer, he turned his head to face the man beside of him. “Is that you?”

            “It is,” Liam verified.

            “Remind me to misbehave more often then,” Zayn commented.

            “Ew,” Louis said, causing Harry to cackle like a damn witch even though no one else found it that funny.

            “I ordered you coke. Is that okay? I think that’s what you got at the restaurant earlier, right?” Liam asked.

            “Yes, and yes,” Zayn said, taking a sip from the cup sitting in front of him that he now assumed to be his. “Thank you.”

            “You’re welcome.”

            The waitress came then to take the table’s order, but once she left, Zayn picked up conversation with Liam again.

            “Is Zoey still with your mum?” he questioned.

            “Yeah,” Liam said. “I was going to get her as soon as I woke up, since I’ll have to leave her again for work tonight, but she was watching her favorite movie and then was promised macaroni and cheese for lunch, so I told her that I would pick her up afterward.”

            “What’s her favorite movie? _Frozen_?” Zayn asked, remembering her coloring book.

            “No, actually. It’s _The Little Mermaid_.”

            “Classic,” Zayn said approvingly. Then, suddenly remembering that there were other people present, due to the intensity of their gazes, he turned to the two across the table.

            “What’s new with you two?”

            Apparently, not much had been going on with Harry and Louis besides working at their respective jobs. Harry, of course, was a bartender, so he always worked nights while Louis worked at a hotel and had a varying schedule.

            “Well, Zayn, it seems like you’re living the life,” Harry commented after Louis had finished telling a tragic tale of being forced to clean up a drunk man’s vomit from the carpet in the lobby. The fact that it had only been noon made the story even more appalling, in Louis’s opinion, and while Zayn laughed, he felt bad for both Louis and the man, who he felt had to have something rough going on in his life. Zayn, too, had been day drunk in a hotel the day after he’d found Garrett with another man, but, luckily, that had been the only time he’d let himself stoop to such lows. Also, as was fortunate for everyone involved, he hadn’t lost his insides anywhere but his room’s toilet.

            “I’m living the life?” Zayn asked.

            “Yeah. You’ve got a flat, a nine-to-five job that gives summers off, an adorable kid…”

            “I guess I am pretty lucky,” Zayn admitted.

            “He’s lucky that Isa is Isa,” Louis interjected, “because if he was any other kid, I’m not sure he would be worth being stuck with Zayn’s ex for the rest of his life.”

            Both Harry and Liam looked at Zayn curiously, but Zayn was too busy glaring and shaking his head at Louis to spare them a glance.

            “Oh, sorry,” Louis said, though he didn’t sound particularly so. “Is this awkward?”

            “I don’t think Harry and Liam want to hear about my ex-husband,” Zayn said, though he meant mostly Liam, seeing as how they were dating. Or had at least gone on one date just the previous night.

            “I don’t mind,” Liam commented nonchalantly. “He’s always going to be a huge part of your life since you have a child together.”

            At those words, a wide smile spread across Louis’s face. Zayn decided not to analyze it too much.

            “Garrett isn’t _that_ bad,” Zayn claimed. “I mean, I would have gone mentally insane if I’d stayed married to him any longer, but now that we’re not married, he’s almost a decent guy.”

            The three others at the table gave a laugh and, luckily, Louis didn’t push the conversation anymore.

            “How did you and Liam meet, by the way, Harry?” he asked.

            “History class, second year of secondary school,” Liam answered. “He tutored me.”

            “Liam had a habit of falling asleep during class,” Harry supplied, smiling fondly at the memories.

            “You were a wild child then?” Zayn asked with a grin, but Liam shook his head.

            “Not at all. I was just a tired child.”

            “How did you two meet?” Harry returned the question to Louis and Zayn.

            “We’ve known each other since we were in diapers,” Louis stated proudly. “My mum was a single mum and Zayn’s mum was nice enough to offer to watch me for free whenever she worked. My granddad worked with Zayn’s dad and news got out that my mum was looking for a sitter so it just went from there.”

            “That’s so cute,” Harry commented, seeming to really think so.

            “Most of the time,” Zayn said. “There was that one time when we were four that Louis pulled my arm out of its socket.”

            “You took the Lego gun I’d been working on forever,” Louis defended himself. “I was only trying to get it back.”

            “His mum still watched you after that?” Liam asked Louis, completely teasing.

            “Yes!” Zayn answered for his friend. “ _And_ after I was through at the hospital, getting put back together, I got in trouble for stealing his Lego gun!”

            Louis gave a devilish grin while Harry and Liam laughed sympathetically. They didn’t have time to discuss much else, though, because then their food arrived.

 

            Since Liam had to go pick up Zoey, the group went their separate ways once they’d finished eating, Louis and Harry deciding to meet each other at the mall right away. All of them promised they would have another double date soon, goodbyes were said and then Zayn got in his car and drove off, smiling despite the fact that his time with Liam had, again, ended much too soon.

            Deciding to not be pathetic and sit at home reading a book and potentially drink a glass or two of wine when the sun started to go down, Zayn visited with his family for a bit. He didn’t mention Liam, if only for the fact that there wasn’t a good opportunity and bringing him up out of nowhere would lead to many questions that Zayn either didn’t yet have the answer to or simply didn’t want to answer. After that, he cleaned his flat and ran to the store to buy Isa some new shoes, as his were getting quite beat up.

            For dinner, Zayn skipped the wine and actually cooked himself a healthy meal, choosing to drink a plain glass of water with it. He was feeling pretty good when he received a snap on Snapchat from Liam, who added him right before he sent the picture, and then Zayn’s head nearly spun from how light he felt all over.

            The picture was of Liam, in full costume for work, and Zayn really wished he’d let the picture stay up for longer than ten seconds. Though stereotypical, Zayn guessed, by Liam’s appearance, that he was working at the men’s club that night, and he felt that he would be breaking the bank by the end of it. Zayn would sure have had trouble not sending himself to the poor house for just a few seconds of Liam’s attention.

            Liam was in a revealing outfit, naturally. It was black and spandex, with a top that criss-crossed down to meet the tight, shorts. Liam had just a hint of eyeliner on, and subtle glittering as well. Zayn almost felt like there was also something on his lips, but supposed that could have been the filter, if Liam had used one.

            _Had to cover the stitches!_ Liam had captioned the picture, which Zayn almost missed, but luckily caught in the nick of time.

            _Don’t think anyone’s going to notice any stitches regardless_ , Zayn typed across a picture of himself as a dog.

            _Are you a good boy…or a bad boy?_   Liam replied underneath a picture of himself in filtered glasses. Zayn was left speechless and sort of turned on, but Liam sent him another snap before he could think of a good response.

            _Sorry!_ He typed, the accompanying picture one of him smiling with a flower crown. _I’m getting a little too into the character of Romeo._

 _Honestly, Romeo, you left me speechless_ , Zayn said, sending Liam a picture of his glass of water instead of his face, afraid of what his expression would showcase.

            _I could say a lot of things about that cold glass of water, but I won’t_ , Liam replied, sending a picture of a tree instead of his own face. Zayn laughed, replied with a picture of his stove saying to have a good night and Liam said the same, using a picture of his dashboard.

            Zayn then switched to text message only to tell Liam to let him know when he made it home safely that night and then to scold him for texting while driving when Liam assured him that he would. A few minutes later, Liam replied that he hadn’t been driving yet when he’d answered and Zayn chose to believe him.

            After dinner, Zayn took a shower, which he usually did in the morning, but needed a bit early due to recent pictures and conversations. He watched some television after that and was just starting to settle down with a beloved book a little while later when his phone rang. He grinned when he saw Liam’s name on the caller ID.

            “Hey, sugar lips.”

            “Hi, Zayn!” Liam shouted, probably trying to hear himself over the background noise.

            “You still at work?” Zayn asked, not upset that Liam was calling him while at the club, but confused.

            “Yeah. You’re going to be really mad at me, but I have a favor to ask.”

            “I doubt I’m going to be mad at you,” Zayn said. “What’s the favor?”

            “Um, weeeeeell, I kind of forgot that I took a pain killer earlier and I accepted a couple of shots and drinks from my co-workers, so, um, I’m a little drunk.”

            “Just a little?” Zayn asked, glad that Liam couldn’t see how endeared his smile had to be.

            “Yes, just a little,” Liam said, “but a little too much to drive, so I was wondering…Wait, I can have one of the other strippers take me home. Never mind! Sorry I bothered you!”

            “Hold on; wait. You didn’t bother me,” Zayn said quickly. “I can pick you up.”

            “Are you sure? Because I can totally have someone else take me home. I don’t know why I didn’t think of that earlier.”

            “It’s just because you really want to see me, don’t lie,” Zayn teased.

            “Maybe,” Liam said.

            “When do you get off?”

            Liam laughed, and couldn’t stop himself until three snorts later.

            “Sorry, sorry!” he apologized. “This place turns me into a pervert…Um, I get off at two, so if that’s too late, honestly don’t worry about it.”

            “Nah, I slept in really late,” Zayn said. “I’ll be there to pick you up. I promise.”

            “Okay!” Liam said. “You can come whenever you want! You won’t have to pay to get in and drinks are on me!”

            “Liam, I’m driving,” Zayn reminded the other with a small laugh.

            “If you get here early enough, that doesn’t matter,” Liam pointed out. “Oh, I have to go! See you! I’ll text you the name of the place!”

            Without even waiting for a goodbye, Liam hung up, but Zayn wasn’t upset. In fact, he was quite excited, and hurried to the bathroom to fix his hair.

 

            Zayn felt slightly out of place as he entered the strip club. He’d never been to one and, while he didn’t think that he was better than any one else who was there as a guest or, especially, those who worked there, it was still a bit awkward for him. Liam was worth it, though, and after he showed his ID to the man at the counter, who was wearing a mesh top and skin tight pants, he suddenly perked up.

            “Oh, you’re Zayn!” he exclaimed, startling the teacher.

            “Yes, I am,” he said, and the man smiled.

            “Romeo told me you were coming! Go on in!”

            “Are you sure?” he asked.

            “Yeah, of course! It’s nice to meet you! I’m Colt!”

            “Nice to meet you too, Colt,” Zayn said with a smile. “Thank you.”

            Though Zayn felt a little better due to Colt’s kindness, the discomfort hit him again as he walked further into the club and saw the men on stage, shaking their butts and gracefully kicking and pulling off various items of clothing. Zayn didn’t stigmatize strip clubs, but he knew that many people did, including strippers, and he didn’t want to accidentally stare at someone too long and make them feel like they were a piece of meat.

            Since Liam wasn’t onstage, Zayn took to looking for him, which in his terms meant going to the bar and hoping Liam miraculously appeared next to him.

            “Hello, mate!” the bartender called in his booming, yet cheerful, Irish accent. He, too, was dressed scantily, though not as much as anyone else. His tank top was sheer and tight, and he had on tight shorts, but no butt cheek was poking out.

            “Hey,” Zayn said back, leaning against the bar. Apparently, he looked as lost as he felt, because the bartender gave a short laugh and said,

            “Are you looking for someone, or would you just like a drink to drown your sorrows?”

            “I don’t have sorrows,” Zayn assured the man with a smile. “I’m here for Liam.”

            “Who?” the bartender asked, his forehead creasing and his eyebrows pulling together.

            “Oh, um, Romeo.”

            “I’m just kidding with ya,” the bartender said. “I knew who you meant, and since you used his real name, I’m guessing you’re a personal friend?”

            “Yeah,” Zayn answered. “I’m Zayn.”

            “Niall,” the bartender greeted, sticking out his hand for Zayn to shake, which he did. “Romeo is with a patron right now but Liam will be over soon.”

            Zayn thought it was interesting how Niall used both of the names, clearly distinguishing between work Liam-‘Romeo’-and real Liam. Or maybe Zayn was just reading too much into it.

            “Okay, thanks,” Zayn said, trying not to feel too jealous over whoever Liam was with at the moment. He’d had to pay for Liam’s time, Zayn reminded himself; something Zayn had never had to do.

            “No problem!” Niall assured the man. “Would you like a drink while you wait?”

            “Maybe just a fireball shot, please?”

            “Coming right up!”

            Zayn had just finished his shot and slid the glass back to Niall when Liam approached in a different outfit than the one he’d sent Zayn a picture in; a purple crop top with black, sparkly shorts. Liam’s stitches were no longer hidden, but Zayn didn’t think they took away from his appearance. If anything, they added that dangerous edge to Liam’s appearance that was, for some reason, so incredibly sexy.

            “Hey, Romeo!” Niall greeted when Liam helped himself onto the barstool next to Zayn.

            “Hi, Niall,” Liam said back, though was smiling at Zayn. “Thanks for coming!”

            “Of course,” Zayn said. “You alright?”

            “Yeah,” Liam said, forcing a small smile that was just slightly off. Zayn frowned, worried.

            “Do you hurt?”

            “I think I’m too intoxicated to feel anything,” Liam said, and then giggled. “I think I’m just tired.”

            “That’s understandable,” Zayn told him. Liam nodded once, forced another smile and then looked at the bartender.

            “Did you give him a drink?”

            “Sure did,” Niall replied. “Would you like another, Zayn?”

            “I’m good, thanks.”

            “How much was it?” Liam spoke again.

            “It’s on me, don’t worry,” Niall assured him.

            “I can pay for it,” Liam said. “Look at all this money!”

            “Liam!” Zayn laughed, touching the other’s wrist gently in an attempt to get him to stop taking notes from his shorts and laying them across the bar. “If it’s that big of a deal, I’ve got it.”

            “I _said_ I’ve got it,” Niall said. Liam sighed dramatically, looking to Zayn again.

            “So many people want to pay for you,” he said. “I must admit, I’m a bit jealous.”

            “I could say the same for you,” Zayn said.

            “Someone gave me four pounds just because I shook my butt on his face.”

            “ _On_ his face?”

            “Yes.”

            “Lucky man.”

            Liam giggled, seeming more energized now than he had only moments ago.

            “I have to go back onstage soon and I’ll be up there for about twenty minutes, but then I can probably dip out.”

            “You can _definitely_ dip out,” Niall told him. “I don’t know what you’re doing here already anyway.”

            “We’ll leave whenever you’re ready,” Zayn assured the dancer. “No rush.”

 

            Though it was tempting, Zayn didn’t go up to the stage to watch Liam dance. He wanted to, but he knew that he couldn’t steal Liam away from paying customers. Zayn would be willing to pay too, but he had a feeling that Liam wouldn’t accept it, and if he was pushing himself to work so soon after surgery, he deserved all the money he could get.

 Instead, he watched from the distance, in awe by how Liam moved his body so gracefully and seductively, even while intoxicated and recovering from surgery. Zayn was also glad to see that, while Liam had seemed tired, he didn’t appear to be unhappy. His smile onstage was genuine, Zayn thought, and he would occasionally laugh at something one of the other dancers broke away from their pole to tell him.

            Niall made small talk with Zayn while he sat there at the bar, but mostly just left him to watch Liam. Zayn hoped that he didn’t get the wrong idea because, while he found it hard to peel his eyes away from the other man, he surprisingly wasn’t aroused. Perhaps there was still just enough jealousy to prevent that.

            “I’m really sorry about this,” Liam apologized as he climbed into Zayn’s passenger seat. “I didn’t think I would stay intoxicated so long. I guess I’m more of a lightweight than I thought.”

            “Well, you’re also on pain medication,” Zayn reminded the other. “That stuff can mess anyone up. Just try to let me know if you need to throw up so I can pull over.”

            “I’m not _that_ drunk!” Liam exclaimed, seeming offended. Zayn smiled apologetically.

            “Just making sure,” he said. “Would you like to listen to music?”

            “It’s your car.”

            “That wasn’t the question.”

            Liam paused, and then apparently took that as permission to turn Zayn’s radio on himself, which was fine. After changing the channel about fifteen times, he finally found a song he liked and leaned back against the seat, humming along until he fell asleep.

           

            Zayn was able to wake Liam enough to get him to walk to the door upon reaching the dancer’s apartment, though he did require quite a bit of help and fell against the door three times while trying to unlock and open it. Once he finally succeeded, the men came face-to-face with a woman who was standing right on the other side, and both of them jumped.

            “Shit, Roo, you scared me,” Liam spoke quietly.

            “Sorry, but I thought you were an intruder. I heard something banging against the door, but all I saw was him out there,” the woman said, nodding to Zayn.

            “You thought I was an intruder and your way of handling that was to stand right inside the door and wait for me to enter?”

            “I have a tazer in my pocket.”

            “You scare me.”

            Leaning more heavily against Zayn, Liam said,

            “Zayn, this is my sister Ruth, but we call her Roo. Roo, this is Zayn. Since mum is embarrassing, I’m guessing she told you about him.”

            “She sure did,” Roo said, looking smug. “Do you need help getting this drunken log to bed, Zayn?”

            “I think I’ve got him, thanks,” Zayn told the woman.

            “Great. I guess I’ll set up a place on the couch for myself then.”

            “You’re staying?” Liam asked.

            “Well, yeah. You’re drunk. You can’t take care of yourself, much less a toddler in this state.”

            Zayn saw Liam’s face fall, his bottom lip literally sticking out in a pout as he said,

            “I’m a terrible father!”

            “You’re not a terrible father,” Roo said with a roll of her eyes.

            “You’re a great father,” Zayn added.

            “I’m just staying to help out, Li, okay?”

            “Zayn can stay,” Liam said, looking down at the man. “I mean, if you want to.”

            “I can stay,” Zayn replied, almost immediately. Roo looked back and forth between the pair briefly.

            “Okay, then,” she said. “I know when I’m not wanted, so you two have a good night.”

            “You know I love you, Roo Moo!” Liam said with a smile.

            “If you could never call me that again, that would be great.”

            Smiling at Zayn, Roo said,

            “Again, it was nice to meet you. Have a good night! If you need anything, you can call me. Liam’s phone doesn’t have a code on it so it’s easy to get into.”

            Zayn already knew this, of course, but instead of telling the woman so, he simply smiled and thanked her. Once she was out of the door, Zayn leaned Liam against the wall so he could go and lock up before helping the intoxicated man to bed, making a stop to check on Zoey on the way.

            Once in his bedroom, Liam gathered night clothes and managed to go to the bathroom and change, falling down onto his bed the moment he returned.

            “I’m a terrible father,” he said again before Zayn could ask if he needed anything besides the glass of water he’d already placed beside the other’s bed.

            “You’re not,” Zayn tried to assure the man.

            “I am!” Liam insisted, sounding as if he could break down in tears any second. “I’m drunk and my daughter is in the next room!”

            “Yes, but she’s sleeping, safe and sound. Now you need to get some sleep too.”

            “You’re supposed to go pick up Isa later in the morning!”

            “And I still will. For now, let’s sleep, okay?”

            “I promise that I don’t drink at work very often.”

            “Hey, Liam, you know how you said that I don’t have to worry about you judging me?”

            “Yeah…”

            “Well, the same goes for you.”

            Liam was quiet for only a moment and when he spoke, he changed the subject.

            “Will you say in here with me?”

            “If you want me to.”

            Liam nodded, reaching out until he found Zayn’s hand and held it. Zayn drew a few small circles in the skin with this thumb before saying,

            “I’m going to use the toilet real quick, okay? I’ll be back.”

            “No, not okay. You don’t have permission to use my toilet,” Liam said, the hint of a smile on his tired face.

            “There’s the Liam I’m used to,” Zayn said, giving the top of the other’s hand a quick kiss and hoping that, if he minded, he would forget by morning.

            Zayn didn’t take long in the bathroom, but Liam appeared to be asleep when he returned. However, after Zayn had turned off the light and laid down, Liam scooted closer, throwing one arm over his guests’s waist and kissing the back of his neck.

            “’Night, Zayn,” he mumbled.

            “Good night, Liam.”

            Zayn thought it would take him a lot longer to go to sleep than it did. The one little kiss that Liam had given the back of his neck had his adrenaline going and his mind racing, wondering how far Liam wanted to get, and how quickly. Besides that, there was also the fact that Zayn hadn’t shared a bed with anyone for over a year, unless it was Isa when he was sick or had a nightmare. It was nice, though, he thought; this sharing a bed business, even if it was only a double bed that prevented either of them from moving around very easily. That was okay because it meant that they had to stay closer.

            The teacher must have fallen asleep quicker than he’d expected, because before he knew it, he felt the bed dipping down and then a small weight was rested atop his legs. Opening one eye, Zayn saw Zoey sitting there, looking at him curiously, but offering a wide smile when she saw that he’d noticed her.

            “Good morning!” the child greeted, attempting to speak quietly. It didn’t really work, but Liam didn’t budge.

            “Good morning!” Zayn whispered back.  “Did you just wake up?”

            Zoey nodded.

            “Are you hungry?” Zayn asked. Again, the girl nodded.

            “Okay,” the man said, finally opening both eyes. “Let’s go see what there is for breakfast, yeah?”

            “Yeah!”

            Zoey jumped off the bed, waiting for Zayn to stand before she took his hand and led him to the kitchen.

            To Zayn’s pleasure, Zoey was a pretty easy-to-please child, and only requested waffles made in the toaster and milk. Zayn was just helping her pour syrup on her food when Liam entered the kitchen, bleary eyed and frowning.

            “Hi, daddy!” Zoey greeted. “Zayn made me waffles!”

            “Hey, she said your name right,” Liam said, his frown turning to a smile for an instant before he winced and rubbed his eyes.

            “Headache?” Zayn guessed.

            “A little bit, but it’s mostly my side,” Liam replied, kissing the top of Zoey’s head as he sat down beside of her. Zayn skipped over the part where he told Liam that he shouldn’t have gone back to work yet and instead looked at the other’s stiches. They looked alright, so Zayn took to toasting Liam his own waffles and sliding him some Advil after being told where to find it.

            “Where’s Isa?” Zoey asked after both Zayn joined both of them at the table. Zayn smiled, having wondered if and when he was going to get that question.

            “I have to go get him from his other dad’s soon,” Zayn explained.

            “I like to play with him,” Zoey said.

            “He likes to play with you too,” Zayn assured the kid. “You two will have to have another play date soon.”

            “If you’re not doing anything today, we could take them to the m-u-s-e-u-m or something,” Liam suggested, looking nervous about it, for some reason.

            “That’s a good idea,” Zayn agreed.

            “Hey, Zo, do you want to go the museum with Isa today?” Liam asked. As a response, the girl simply shrieked and jumped out of her chair to do a dance while saying the word ‘museum’ over and over, and so the men took that as a yes.

 

            While Liam and Zoey got ready, Zayn ran back to his place to freshen up. Liam insisted on being the one to drive, so once everyone was ready, he picked Zayn up, and after putting Isa’s car seat in the back next to Zoey’s, they were off to pick up the boy.

            “I’m not saying you have to stay in the car,” Zayn told Liam once they had arrived at his ex-husband’s house, “but if you want to, that’s totally fine.”

            “It will be just as easy, rather than unbuckling Zoey and then buckling her back in,” Liam reasoned, which was true, even if it was just an excuse.

            “Okay. Then I’ll be right back.”

            “Take your time.”

            Garrett opened the front door for Zayn before he’d even rang the doorbell, which meant that he’d been watching for him.

            “Who is that?” the older man asked right away, without even so much as a hello or anything.

            “My mate, Liam,” Zayn explained.

            “I’ve never met a Liam.”

            “He’s a new mate. Louis is dating his best friend.”

            “Oh, so he’s one of that crowd,” Garrett said disapprovingly.

            “You know, Louis really isn’t as wild as you think,” Zayn said. “You just don’t know how to have fun.”

            “I disagree.”

            “Yes, I know you do. We disagree on everything, which is why we’re divorced, despite the obvious. Where is Isa?”

            “Are you two dating?”

            “We’ve been on one date, yes.”

            “I think I should meet who my child is hanging around when he’s with you.”

            “Then come out to the car if you want to! don’t care!” Zayn exclaimed, getting annoyed quickly, but then taking a deep, calming breath.

            “Baba?” Zayn finally heard Isa’s voice float down the stairwell.

            “Hey, buddy!” he called. “Are you almost ready to go?”

            “Yeah! I want to show you my new Batman underpants!”

            In the next instant, the toddler was making his way downstairs, in nothing but his Batman underpants, and Zayn gave a huff of a laugh.

            “Those are really cool, Isa!”

            “I know!”

            “I’m going to need you to get dressed though, okay? We’re going to go to the museum with Liam and Zoey.”

            “Yay!” Isa cheered at the same time that Garrett asked,

            “Who’s Zoey?”

            “Liam’s daughter,” Zayn replied as Isa ran upstairs saying he would be right back.

            “I see,” Garrett said. Zayn didn’t give a response.

            A few minutes later, Isa had returned down the stairs, fully clothed and with his Batman action figure in his hand. His overnight bag was already by the stairs, so Zayn picked it up and ruffled the boy’s hair.

            “I’m keeping him an extra night then, yeah?” he verified to his ex-husband, as he’d politely returned Isa a day early his last visit.

            “I guess,” Garrett said begrudgingly.

            “Are you coming out?” Zayn questioned next as Isa opened the door and bounced up and down, clearly ready to go.

            “No, that’s okay,” the man said, moving forward only to kiss his son on top of the head. “Bye, Isa! Have fun! I love you.”

            “Love you!” Isa replied. “Can I go out, baba?”

            “Yeah, you can go out,” Zayn allowed. He didn’t have to tell Isa twice, so turning to his ex, Zayn said a quick goodbye and followed his child.

            “Hi, Isa!” Zoey exclaimed as Zayn helped the boy in his seat, and Liam gave the same greeting.

            “Hi! I have Batman!” Isa said, holding out his doll for the car to see.

            “Ooh, I love it!” Liam exclaimed animatedly. “Batman is my favorite superhero!”

            “He’s my favorite too!” Isa said.

            “Look what I have!” Zoey announced, holding up the My Little Pony that she had brought along for the car ride, and for the whole trip, the children played an odd, yet amusing game of Batman Vs. Rainbow Dash.

            The kids had a great time at the museum, and the dads had probably just as much fun. Zayn loved watching the kids laugh, ask questions and show each other things that they thought were ‘cool,’ and he loved watching Liam watch the kids just as much. Zayn wasn’t going to claim that he was falling in love yet, but he was falling in something that went deeper than infatuation; deeper than a crush. He felt then that if he could just be with Liam all day every day, that would be quite alright with him. Whatever emotion Liam was portraying, Zayn seemed to feel too. He’d never had that kind of connection with anyone else, even his ex-husband (and, shit, that kind of sounded like love, didn’t it?)

            Of course, Zayn knew better than to say anything or act on these feelings, knowing full well that, while Liam may have liked him, he probably wasn’t falling for Zayn nearly as quickly. Zayn ‘felt too much,’ a certain someone had told him, and so he never quite trusted whether his emotions were valid or not.

            “Hey,” Liam said, putting his arm around Zayn’s waist and pulling him from his own mind. When Zayn looked over and smiled, Liam returned it slightly, but asked, “You okay?”

            “Yeah,” Zayn replied, making sure to keep the smile on his face. Liam narrowed his eyes disbelievingly.

            “I promise,” Zayn said, resting his head against Liam’s as they watched their children play in the water bin only a couple feet away.

            After they were done with the water, Isa and Zoey went to the playhouse the museum had set up and the adults sat on the benches close by, Liam’s hand on top of Zayn’s as they continued to observe the toddlers.

            “They’re so cute,” Liam commented after a bit of silence.

            “They’re adorable,” Zayn agreed.

            “I hope they both get to have happy families with a significant other someday, as long as that’s what they want,” Liam said. “Don’t get me wrong, I wouldn’t trade Zoey for anything, but I definitely planned to be married or at least in a very stable relationship before I had kids.”

            “I know what you mean,” Zayn assured him. “I always said that once I got married, I would never get divorced. I wanted a big, happy, whole family like the one I grew up in, but obviously that didn’t go as planned.”

            “Nothing ever does, does it?” Liam spoke.

            “It doesn’t seem like it.”

            “But I guess maybe life has a way of making bad things happen so that great things can come after.”

            Zayn felt Liam’s eyes turn on him instead of the kids, and he moved his head to fully face the man, knowing that Liam could still see the children from the corner of his eye.

            “I like to think that’s life’s reasoning for things,” Zayn said, his heart picking up speed at the intensity of Liam’s gaze.

            “I’ve never met anyone like you, Zayn,” Liam said. “I really, really like you.”

            “I really, really like you too,” Zayn said after what he hoped was a subtle swallow. Liam leaned forward a bit, paused, backed up and then decided to just go in for the kiss that Zayn had been hoping he was contemplating. It was a quick kiss, but that didn’t make it any less amazing. Zayn truly felt as if his lips had never fit against someone else’s so perfectly.

            “Was that okay? For me to do that, I mean?” Liam asked with a crooked half smile once he pulled away, his thumb stroking the top of Zayn’s hand.

            “More than okay,” Zayn assured him. “By the way, sugar lips is truly a perfect nickname for you.”

            Liam laughed and kissed Zayn on the lips one more time before they both turned their full attention back to their children, Zayn smiling and feeling a little less afraid than mere minutes ago.

    


	6. Chapter 6

            As the kids tended to do, they wore each other out at the museum and were asleep less than three minutes into the car ride home. Neither even came to when their fathers took them out of their car seats once back at Liam’s apartment. Zoey gave an attempt to wake up, taking a deep breath and holding her head up for a couple brief seconds before laying it on Liam’s shoulder and beginning to snore again. Isa didn’t even budge; instead, immediately starting to drool on Zayn’s shoulder.

            “I guess he’s had enough fun for the day,” Zayn commented light-heartedly even though, personally, he had not had quite enough fun yet. Life wasn’t about him anymore, though, and he couldn’t stay all day at a guy’s house just because he had a massive crush-or something-on him.

            “Zoey doesn’t ever take naps this good unless she spends the day with Isa,” Liam said, a smile on his face as he looked back and forth between the kids. “Do you want me to hold Isa while you get his car seat back in place?”

            “You’ve got them both at once?” Zayn asked, not doubting Liam’s strength, but he would personally find it physically awkward to hold two sleeping children.

            “Of course,” Liam answered, smiling and shifting Zoey just slightly to make room for Isa.

            “I’m impressed, Romeo,” Zayn teased, even if he did find the way that Liam held the kids-one sleeping child on each arm-kind of hot.

            Liam followed Zayn to his car and waited as he got Isa’s car seat situated, and then he carefully handed the man’s son back to him to allow him to buckle him in. Before he did, Zayn smiled at Liam, holding in the sigh that wanted to come out and show his disdain that he had to leave.

            “I’m glad you thought of the museum idea,” Zayn told the other. “We had a lot of fun.”

            “We did too. Thanks for coming,” Liam said. Zayn offered a smile, and then the awkward moment of having to say goodbye, but not actually wanting to, came, and the men stared at each other for a couple moments. It was a lot less awkward than the first time that happened, though, because Zayn felt much less like a creep staring at Liam than he used to.

            Liam broke the silence with a small laugh and then he leaned forward to kiss Zayn.

            Zayn smiled pretty much the whole way home, and he even hummed quietly after putting a still-sleeping Isa into his bed as he started making a snack for himself. The smile was wiped from his face quickly, though, when he remembered to check his phone and saw that Garrett had sent him a message over an hour ago.

            _Call me when you can, please,_ the message read, and Zayn was tempted to delete it and pretend he never saw it, but he supposed his ex _could_ want something important. If he wanted Isa back early again, though, he was going to be out of luck.

            “Hey, Zaynie,” Garrett answered the phone after only one-and-a-half rings; something that was rare for him. Usually, Zayn had to leave a voice mail and wait a good twenty or so minutes for a ring back.

            “Please don’t call me that,” Zayn said, as nicely as he could. “It’s weird. But hi.”

            Ignoring the first part of Zayn’s statement, Garrett continued.

            “How was the museum? I think that’s where you said you were going?”

            “Yeah, it was fun,” Zayn said. “Isa had a lot of fun. I took some pictures that I can send you.”

            “Okay, yeah, thanks. Are you home now?”

            “Yeah, just got home.”

            “Are you alone?”

            Zayn paused, a frown naturally forming on his face. He wanted to tell Garrett that no; Liam was just in the next room, but lying to the father of his child probably wasn’t a good idea, and so he told him the truth.

            “Isa is asleep in his bed, and other than that, yes…”

            “I just wanted to talk a little about Liam. I didn’t want to make things awkward by going out to his car, but I do want to know more about the bloke who my kid is apparently around often.”

            “It’s not that often,” Zayn said, barely holding in his sigh, and then he said, “but shoot. What do you want to know?”

            “How old is he?”

            It was only then that Zayn realized he didn’t know Liam’s age for sure. He knew he was on the younger side-younger than Garrett, anyhow, but an exact number had never come up.

            “About my age,” Zayn said, because he knew that was accurate enough.

            “And he’s got a daughter?”

            “Yep. She’ll be three next month.”

            “Where does he live?”

            “Why does that matter?”

            “I don’t want my kid hanging about in a bad neighborhood.”

            “It’s not a bad neighborhood,” Zayn said. “Honestly, I know you think I’m immature, but I can take care of _our_ child. If you want to know if you’re richer than Liam, then yes, it seems so, but that shouldn’t matter.”

            “What has been up with your attitude lately?” Garrett asked, turning the whole conversation back around on Zayn, of course. “Have you not been sleeping well again or something?”

            “I’ve been sleeping fine,” Zayn said, not mentioning that his bout of slight insomnia he’d experienced for around six months while the two were together had been a cause of marital stress. Even his doctor had said so, but Zayn was a nice person, despite what anyone might say, so he’d never told his now-ex-husband that.

            “I just worry about you. And Isa,” Garrett said, adding the latter as what seemed like an afterthought.

            “It’s natural to worry about your child,” Zayn told him, “but why would you worry about me?”

            “I still care about you, you know,” the older man spoke as if it should be obvious. “You don’t spend that long with somebody and go through what we went through and then just stop caring about them.”

            _Could have fooled me_ , Zayn almost said, but didn’t.

            “I’m fine,” Zayn said flatly. “Isa is fine. Liam is a good guy and we both really like him.”

            “You’re sure you _both_ really like him?”

            “Why are you being like this?” Zayn asked instead of answering the other’s question. Then, to his surprise, Garret, instead of defending himself or pretending he had no idea what Zayn was talking about, said,

            “Sorry. It’s just weird seeing you with someone else, you know?”

            “Yes, believe me, I know.”

            A beat of silence passed, in which Zayn guessed that his ex-husband was really regretting the way he chose to word things, and then Garrett spoke again.

            “How many times am I going to have to apologize for that, Z?”

            “You don’t need to apologize anymore. I’ve heard it enough. I just want you to stop being ridiculous now. What happened, happened, and we’ve both moved on from it, but it’s not like everything is going to be sunshine and butterflies.”

            “Okay,” Garrett sighed. “I’ll try to stop being ridiculous, or whatever, but if this guy hurts you like I did, I’ll kick his arse.”

            “Part of the divorce is that I can take care of myself now,” Zayn said, not adding that if he’d truly needed Garrett, like he’d once claimed, then he would have kept him around the first time he apologized and promised it wouldn’t happen again.

            It didn’t happen often, but Garrett was left speechless and Zayn used that as an opportunity to disconnect from the horrible conversation.

            “I’m going to go take a nap with Isa,” he said. “I’ll talk to you later.”

            After giving a quick ‘bye,’ Garrett hung up the phone and, finally, Zayn let out the deep sigh that he’d been holding in for a long while. Since he was suddenly worn out, he did go into Isa’s room and squeeze himself on the small bed next to him, stroking the boy’s hair gently as his own eyes grew heavy; his exhaustion hitting hard from the amount of effort it took for him not to tell his child that his other father was a wanker.

 

            Much to Zayn’s displeasure, he didn’t see much of Liam for the next few days. The man was busy with Zoey and work, which was completely understandable, though Zayn worried that meant that the other man would eventually come to the conclusion that he didn’t have time for Zayn at all. For the time being, though, he seemed to be trying. Liam and Zoey came over to Zayn’s for lunch on Sunday, and on Monday, they took the children to the park together again. Tuesday went by with only a few simple texts to each other and then the dreaded Wednesday came and Zayn was forced to give Isa back to Garrett. The exchange was awkward, with both men hardly saying a word to each other. Zayn felt bad, because he didn’t want Isa to be around tension, but it had become clear that neither of his parents were good at controlling their mouths, so it was probably best to not speak.

            Isa being back at Garrett’s, of course, meant that Zayn was left with a feeling of loneliness for the rest of the day, not helped by the fact that Liam hadn’t sent a single text to him all day. Zayn hadn’t sent one either, so he couldn’t be too upset by it, but Liam was the busy one. Zayn knew how tempermental he personally got whenever he was overly stressed, and he didn’t want to accidentally annoy Liam.

            Finally, around seven that night, Liam sent a picture via Snapchat of him in his first outfit for the night; a see-through red top and black, sparkly shorts that appeared to be more like a speedo.

            _Wish I didn’t have to work tonight-I miss you,_ Liam had said, which elicited the first real smile from Zayn all day.

            _Miss you too. Working for the men?_ He replied, sending along a picture of him that wasn’t too impressive, but he feared that if he worked too hard on taking the perfect picture, then the small window of opportunity he had to talk to Liam would pass.

            _Yes I am,_ Liam replied with a picture of him and Niall, the bartender. Behind them, Zayn could see the various alcohol bottles placed along the bar and suddenly craved a drink.

            Naturally, the only thing Zayn could think of to fully satisfy his craving was to go to the strip club, knowing that liquor wasn’t the only thing he was actually lusting for.

            Colt was working the front counter again, but he didn’t appear to remember Zayn until checking his ID. After letting out a gasp and hitting himself in the head, the man apologized and told Zayn to go on in, no entrance fee required. Zayn tried to tell him that paying was no trouble, but Colt would have none of it and, as there was quite the line forming behind Zayn, he went on in.

            Unlike the previous time Zayn visited the club, he found Liam quickly. The man was at the bar, slinging drinks to a waiting customer, which confused Zayn, but he was smiling anyway as he approached.

            “What time are you going back onstage?” Zayn heard the man whom Liam had just served asking him as he sipped on his drink and very obviously watched Liam’s bottom half as he turned to clean up his mess. Zayn stopped smiling, but didn’t say anything and sat on the bar stool farthest away from the other man as Liam answered.

            “About thirty minutes, doll,” he said, causing a more intense pang of jealousy to course through Zayn. _Pang_ wasn’t even the correct word for it anymore, really. It was more like a knife laced with jealousy had put itself through Zayn’s chest.

            “I’ll make sure to be up there,” the customer told Liam as he turned around, winking before picking up his drink and walking away. Zayn decided that Liam was definitely the only person who should wink, ever, even if he was guilty of it sometimes himself.

            After the man had gotten a good few feet away, Liam turned to the other man at the bar-Zayn-and startled when he saw who it was, though a smile broke across his face at the same time that he jumped.

            “Hey, you,” Liam said, walking over to Zayn’s part of the bar and leaning against it. “I didn’t expect to see you here tonight.”

            “I needed a drink,” Zayn explained, and then added, “besides, since you missed me and I missed you, I decided to help us both out a bit.”

            Liam’s smile grew for an instant before disappearing, his forehead suddenly creasing with what Zayn would place as worry.

            “What’s wrong? Why do you need a drink?” he asked.

            “Nothing,” Zayn answered. Since he couldn’t pinpoint one thing, he guessed he was just being overly dramatic and didn’t want to bother Liam with his non-existent troubles. “Where’s Niall?”

            “He’s got a massive crush on this bloke that comes in often. I’m pretty sure he just comes in _to_ see Niall, actually, and today, for the first time, he asked if he could talk to Niall on his break, but since he doesn’t get a break, I’m the bartender for a while.”

            “That’s nice of you.”

            Liam shrugged.

            “It’s a nice break, honestly. I mean, I don’t hate being on the floor, but this is still a nice change.”

            Zayn nodded, but before he could think of something to say, Liam gave a nervous giggle and spoke again, speaking faster as he straightened his posture.

            “So what would you like?” he asked. “I don’t know if I’m as good as Niall with this mixing business, but maybe after a few drinks you won’t even realize it.”

            “I’m sure you’re just fine at it,” Zayn assured the man before requesting a fireball shot; his regular there, apparently.

            After Liam had given Zayn his shot, the man set down what he guessed to be enough money plus a decent tip, but Liam shook his head, taking a step back as if he’d been attempting to hand him poisoned notes.

            “Nope,” the dancer and temporary bartender said. “This one’s on me.”

            “No,” Zayn said after downing his shot, his chest already warm from it. Liam added more alcohol to the drinks than Niall, that was for sure, but it still tasted good.

            “Yes,” Liam said. “My bar, my rules.”

            “It’s Niall’s bar,” Zayn retorted.

            “I don’t see Niall anywhere around here, do you?” Liam replied, causing Zayn to laugh.

            “Touché,” Zayn said, picking up his glass and moving it towards his lips before remembering that he’d drank the alcohol from it already. It was Liam’s turn to laugh.

            “Would you like another?”

            “Maybe just one, please and thanks, and I’m paying for this one.”

            “Nope.”

            “Soooo stubborn,” Zayn sighed, resting one cheek on his hand as he watched Liam work.

            “Hey, don’t sigh at me,” Liam scolded, not looking up from the drink he was making. “Sighs are for Garrett.”

            “Sorry,” Zayn said, the smile finally returning to his face. “I didn’t mean to insult you.”

            “You’re forgiven,” Liam said, and Zayn was glad to see that his grin, too, had returned as he slid Zayn’s beverage to him, causing quite a bit to slosh from the sides.

            “Shit,” Liam said. “Sorry. Niall does that all the time, I didn’t think it would be so hard. I’ll make you another one.”

            “It’s fine,” Zayn assured the man. “Not like I’m paying for it anyway.”

            “Damn right you’re not,” Liam said, his smile growing. Zayn took his shot while Liam watched him.

            “You sure you’re okay?” the dancer asked once Zayn had finished and slid the glass back to him, knocking it over.

            “That cup is jinxed,” Zayn commented, and then, “Yes, I’m fine.”

            Liam gave Zayn a look that hinted that he didn’t quite believe him, but he didn’t have time to say as much because another patron approached the bar.

            “Hey, Romeo! What are you doing behind the bar?!” he asked, his words slurred. Zayn already didn’t like this man, though he wasn’t surprised at that discovery.

            “I’m just stepping in for Niall for a few minutes,” Liam told the man, a small smile on his face as he left Zayn to sashay over to the guy.

            “Oh, good,” the drunk said. “I was afraid this would be a permanent thing and I wouldn’t get to see you shake your arse anymore.”

            “No need to worry, Alfie.”

            “Hey, since you’re tending bar for a bit, you should get Niall to go up on stage and dance. He’s got such a tight little body. He’s fucking gorgeous, man.”

            “I’ll mention it to him, but you know he’s shy,” Liam said. “Can I get you something to drink?”

            This wretched man-Alfie, apparently-ignored Liam’s question; instead, asking one of his own.

            “Fuck, baby, what did you do to your side?!”

            Zayn really wished he had ordered another drink if only so he could sip on the liquid and make it easier on himself to refrain from telling Alfie to not call Liam ‘baby.’ Or to tell Alfie to go make love to himself. Maybe both.

            Luckily, Zayn was a strong willed individual and fought off those urges all on his own, but barely.

            “Oh, I had my appendix removed last week,” Liam answered, subconsciously pulling down on his shirt like he could make the material long enough to cover his wound, and that only made Zayn hate this Alfie guy more. Liam was already self-conscious enough of his stitches and the underlying scar. There had been no need to draw attention to it when it didn’t take away from Liam’s looks or charm whatsoever.

            “Damn, baby,” Alfie whistled, and Zayn was afraid that if he said that ‘b’ word one more time, he might snap. “I guess that’s why I didn’t see you for a couple of days.”

            _Just how often do you come in here?_ Zayn almost asked, but cleared his throat quietly instead. As if Liam could sense his tension, he glanced over, looking almost apologetic.

            “What can I get you to drink?” he asked Alfie again, and the man finally ordered.

            “I’m sorry,” Liam whispered to Zayn after serving the other man his drink, leaning close enough so that Zayn could feel his breath on his ear, and he nearly shivered.

            “Why are you apologizing?” he asked. “I’m the one bothering you at work.”

            “You’re not bothering me,” Liam said. “You could never bother me.”

            “I’m going to remind you that you said that somewhere down the road because I can be pretty annoying,” Zayn said, and Liam smiled as he leaned away, forced to go serve yet another patron.

            To Zayn’s pleasure, Niall returned, his face red, but with the biggest smile on his face, as Liam took the change from this newest customer.

            “I need details later,” Liam said. Niall only nodded, looking as if he might actually be speechless. With a happy sigh, the Irishman leaned with his back against the liquor shelf, taking in his customers and doing a double-take when he saw Zayn.

            “Oh, hello again!” he greeted.

            “Hi,” Zayn said with a polite smile.

            “I have to go,” Liam announced. “I have to change and go back up onstage.”

            “Yeah, I should probably be leaving,” Zayn said, not feeling strong enough to watch anyone else ogle at Liam that night.

            “Niall will set you up with some more drinks if you want to stay,” Liam told Zayn, almost looking disappointed that Zayn was about to go.

            “I just came to see you for a bit,” Zayn said, realizing that probably sounded creepy to anyone who didn’t know the dynamics of their relationship, but oh well. “Besides, I do still have to drive.”

            “Are you good to do that now?” Liam asked.

            “I’m completely fine,” Zayn said, because even though he was still warm all over and his head felt a little bubbly, he knew he was a far ways from being drunk.

            “You sure?” Liam pressed.

            “Positive,” Zayn said. “Not all of us are lightweights.”

            Liam smiled.

            “Fine,” he said, and then lowered his voice. “Will you come with me for just a minute though?”

            Zayn nodded, hopping to his feet and saying goodbye to Niall-and, begrudgingly, Alfie too since he’d shouted his farewells-and then followed Liam to a bathroom backstage. It was a single toilet restroom and Liam locked the door before lightly pinning Zayn against it and kissing him.

            “I’ve been really wanting to do that for a while, but we aren’t supposed to kiss on the job.”

            “I will admit that I’m selfishly glad about that,” Zayn said.

            “Me too,” Liam said, one hand resting on the door by Zayn’s head, but the other stroking his hip slowly and gently. “I’m really sorry about all those men.”

            “This is your job,” Zayn told him, because even if he’d been uncomfortable, he didn’t for a second hold it against Liam or think any less of him. Besides, he’d only been on one date with Liam, so he wasn’t sure why he even felt the need to apologize.

            “You’re amazing,” Liam said softly, his eyes trained on Zayn’s lips for a few moments before traveling to his eyes. Zayn smiled weakly, and then he leaned forward to kiss Liam.

            “Shit, I knew I put too much alcohol in those drinks,” Liam said, licking his lip once they broke apart. “I can barely taste the fireball.”

            “It was still good,” Zayn assured him with a smile.

            “You sure you’re okay to drive?”

            “I promise.”

            “And that you’re okay in general?”

            “I’m okay.”

            “Okay. Remember, if you ever want to talk…”

            “I know,” Zayn said, wrapping his arms around Liam’s waist when Liam stopped touching him. He knew the other had to go back to work, but he wasn’t ready to let him go quite yet. “Thank you.”

            “Of course.”

            The two stayed that way for a few seconds more, their eyes roaming over each other’s faces and bodies, trying to learn them even better, before Zayn smiled, kissed Liam one more time and then let his arms drop to his side.

            “I guess you need to be getting out there.”

            “Yeah. Pretty sure I have two minutes before I have to be on stage.”

            “See you soon?”

            “I hope so. Let me know when you make it home, okay?”

            “Sure.”

            With one more quick kiss, the two said their goodbyes and Zayn tried not to look smug as he exited the bathroom to find several gaping dancers watching him go.

 

            It took Liam a while to reply after Zayn sent him a text, letting him know that he made it home safely, but Zayn didn’t stress over it that time; knowing the other man was onstage. When he finally did reply, his message read,

            _Good! =]_

As Zayn sat there, trying to decide if he should reply with a simple smiley face, ask him how his night was continuing or just leave the conversation at that, another message from Liam came through. 

            _Zoey is spending the night with Roo tonight. If you want, you can come over when I get home. But if it’s too late, I understand!_

_It’s not too late,_ Zayn typed out right away, because even though he was tired, he would take any chance he could get to see the other man. _Do you want to come here instead though? If not, I can go over. No big deal._

_I can go there =]_ , Liam replied after a couple of minutes. _See you around 2:20-ish?_

When Liam arrived at Zayn’s house, he was dressed in a simple t-shirt and sweatpants, his hair wet, which Zayn was glad about because after two in the morning was too late for even him to really care what he looked like and he, too, was in a t-shirt along with pajama bottoms.

            “Hey,” Zayn greeted with a smile after Liam had stepped inside and immediately given him a kiss.

            “Hey,” Liam returned, also smiling. “I got off early, so I ran home and showered and, well…I brought goodies.”

            It said a lot about how much Zayn liked Liam that he hadn’t noticed the two alcohol bottles in Liam’s hand until he held them up.

            “Hope you like wine,” Liam said.

            “I’m not picky,” Zayn told him, taking one of the bottles to get a better look. “This sounds delicious, honestly.”

            “Good,” Liam said, looking pleased.

            “Glasses are in here.”

            Motioning towards the kitchen, Zayn led the way, handing Liam a corkscrew so that he could pop the cork from the first bottle while he retrieved his wine glasses.

            “Do you want anything to eat with this?” Zayn asked as he poured Liam some wine, filling it almost to the brim because he didn’t see the point in being classy and only filling it halfway up when he knew they would definitely be able to polish off one, if not both, of the bottles. “Isa and I made brownies yesterday to go with our _vegetable_ lasagna.”

            “Ooh, look at you, being healthy,” Liam teased, taking a sip of his wine. “Sure, a brownie sounds good. Thanks.”

            “How did the rest of work go?” Zayn asked as he sat down with his own glass of wine and a brownie for each of them.

            “It was fine,” Liam said. “Not as enjoyable as when you were there, but it was fine.”

            “I do bring the party everywhere I go,” Zayn agreed, teasingly.

            “I believe it,” Liam told him.

            Having yet to taste his wine, Zayn took that moment to take a sip, preparing himself for the bitterness that wine could often have, but instead, he was met with a smooth, sweet flavor, and his eyes widened with surprised pleasure.

            “This is really good!” he said.

            “I’m glad you like it,” Liam said, appearing to really mean it, maybe too much. “I used to drink this quite often before Zoey was born, but I haven’t had it since.”

            “This is definitely going at the top of my ‘preferred alcohols’ list.”

            Liam smiled, still seeming quite pleased.

            Needless to say, both bottles were finished off fairly quickly.

 

            “Okay, Never have I ever…fallen asleep in history class.”

            “Not fair!” Liam exclaimed, taking his final sip of wine, and Zayn cackled, even though nothing was particularly funny.

            “I win!” he announced, polishing off his own glass and then throwing himself sideways on the bed so that his head was in Liam’s lap, letting his empty glass fall sideways onto the sheets. Liam smiled down at him, and even though his face was blurry, Zayn loved that smile.

            “Hi,” he said, reaching up to poke Liam’s bottom lip.

            “Hi,” Liam said, and then giggled.

            “You’re hot,” Zayn told the other.

            “You’re hotter,” Liam claimed.

            “It’s not a competition,” Zayn said, sitting up and blinking a few times to steady the room as best he could. “But you’re hotter.”

            “You’re obviously very drunk if you think that’s true,” Liam said.

            “I’m not drunk!” Zayn said defiantly, poking Liam’s lip again because he really wanted to kiss it, but he also really wanted to talk, and he wasn’t sure where a kiss would lead when they were in this state. “I’m just a little tipsy.”

            “Oh, okay,” Liam said, and then, with a snort, “Well, I’m drunk.”

            “Lightweight.”

            “I know. I’m not ashamed.”

            “You shouldn’t be. It’s endearing.”

            A moment of silence passed and then Liam spoke again.

            “Hey, Zayn?”

            “Yes?”

            “Never have I ever had sex with a man.”

            Zayn tilted his head, unsure of what caused Liam to say that. Sensing his confusion, Liam said,

            “Just wanted to put that out there.”

            “That’s okay,” Zayn told him. “I’ve never had sex with a woman, so we’re even on the experience meter.”

            Liam gave a small laugh, though still seemed worried about it, if Zayn’s fuzzy brain was correct.

            “I just don’t want you to be, like…disappointed or something if I’m awful at it. You know, if we ever get to that point.”

            “I’m not going to be disappointed. I honestly don’t know how great I am since my husband had to get it from somewhere else.”

            Woops, Zayn broke his own rule of not bringing up his ex around Liam, at least if it wasn’t absolutely necessary, but Liam didn’t seem to mind. Reaching out to pat Zayn’s knee, he said,

            “We’ve already established that he’s a douche nugget though.”

            “Yeah, but…like…What if it was me?”

            As tears welled up in Zayn’s eyes, he suddenly remembered why he didn’t drink wine much anymore; leaving it at a single glass with dinner every now and then. Actually, that was why he usually stopped himself from getting to the ‘drunk’ stage of drinking in general. He was an emotional drunk and tears ensued at least ninety-five percent of the time.

            “It wasn’t you,” Liam said, like Zayn would be crazy to even think such a thing. Of course, that tone of voice only served to upset Zayn more and his breath hitched embarrassingly before he flipped to his side-bad idea-to turn off the bedside light; the only light in his room.

            “Good night,” he said then, burying his face in the pillow, feeling sad, embarrassed and sick.

            “Hey, what’s wrong?” Liam asked, laying behind Zayn and scooting close enough so that he had one arm draped around his waist and his nose pressed into the back of Zayn’s neck.

            “Nothing. I’m just tired,” Zayn claimed.

            “I’m sorry if I said something to upset you,” Liam apologized, his own voice quivering. The first of Zayn’s tears escaped from his eyes, promising that a flood gate was about to be opened.

            “You didn’t upset me,” Zayn told him. “I upset me. I’m dumb.”

            “You’re not dumb.”

            “Obviously, something is wrong with me.”

            “Well, Zayn, nobody is perfect, but I, personally, haven’t found anything wrong with you yet. You’re so attractive and you’re sweet, smart, successful, a great dad, funny, caring…No matter what your flaw is, I’m sure it’s not bad enough to take away from all of that, and whoever thinks they can do better than you is an idiot.”

            “I’m sorry,” Zayn said, fighting to keep his voice steady. He didn’t succeed, but he continued anyway. “I promise I’m over my ex, even though it doesn’t seem like it. I am, I just really, really like you and I don’t want the same thing to happen.”

            “It’s not going to,” Liam told him right away. “I would never cheat, no matter what, and I know we’re still getting to know each other, but right now, I never want this to end. You make me happy. I mean, I was happy before, but you make me happy in a different way.”

            “I know what you mean,” Zayn said, and he did, even if Liam’s words meant no sense. “You could change your mind, though.”

            “Yeah, I guess,” Liam said, “but so you could you.”

            “I won’t.”

            “How do you know?”

            “I just do.”

            “Well, that’s how I feel too.”

            “Hey, Liam, I have a question and I don’t want you to get mad. You don’t have to talk about it if you don’t want to, but I’ve been wondering this for a while.”

            “You can ask me anything,” Liam told Zayn, but he was still nervous as he opened his mouth to ask his question.

            “Where’s Zoey’s mum?”

            “Oh, thank god you asked,” Liam said. “I’ve been meaning to tell you about that, but I never knew how to bring it up.”

            “You can tell me anything, always,” Zayn told the other man, and Liam placed a kiss on the back of his neck, causing goosebumps.

            “Zoey’s mum and I got together the last year of secondary school. I’d never really been with anyone before, because until that point I’d mainly liked guys and it was scary for me at the time, but then I met her and I liked her enough. We had fun together, but we were never serious. Even after being together for over a year, we still hadn’t said that we loved each other because I don’t think we did. She got pregnant accidentally when we were nineteen and at first we decided to put the baby up for adoption. Neither of us had good jobs, as we were both in university, and honestly, we were still pretty immature. We would rather party than take care of a baby, or at least that’s what I thought. Then we started meeting with families who were interested in adopting our baby; Zoey, obviously, and I didn’t like any of them. They were good families. They had money, they were nice and classy and would have been great parents, but I couldn’t see any of them raising my baby and I realized later that it was because I really did want to raise her. I talked to Natalia, her mum, about it, but she’d made up her mind. She wasn’t ready for a kid, which I understand, and so she gave me the choice of her or Zoey, and I chose Zoey.”

            “That’s crazy,” Zayn said, Liam’s story bringing on a whole new slew of tears that he wasn’t even trying to fight anymore. “I can’t imagine not wanting my child.”

            “Me neither, but I think it was still the more selfless thing of her to give Zoey up completely than being a parent that’s only partly there or doesn’t want to be there.”

            “Oh, yeah, definitely,” Zayn agreed. “Have you talked to her since Zoey was born?”

            “Nope. She’s still on my Facebook and stuff, so she sees the updates I post about Zoey, but we haven’t actually talked since I took Zoey home from the hospital.”

            “That’s awesome of you too, you know; to take on the responsibility of raising her on your own.”

            “I hope so,” Liam said. “I hope I wasn’t being selfish. I sometimes wonder if Zoey would have been better with one of the other parents.”

            “She wouldn’t have,” Zayn disagreed immediately. “I’m sure they would have loved her, but you love her more than anyone else ever could, and she clearly loves you so much too. You made the right decision.”

            “Thanks,” Liam said, taking Zayn’s hand.

            “Fuck, why am I still crying?” Zayn wondered aloud. Liam gave a small laugh.

            “Isn’t that a parent thing? I cry, like, all the time, so I thought it was just normal.”

            Zayn laughed, and then shook his head.

            “That wasn’t funny. I don’t want you to cry all the time. That’s sad.”

            “That was an exaggeration,” Liam assured him. “Honestly, I’ve been doing a lot less of that since I met you anyway.”

            Zayn smiled, bringing Liam’s hand up to his mouth so he could place a gentle kiss on the back of it.

            “I like you being here,” he said, his eyes growing heavy. He would be out any minute, he knew, but he stayed conscious long enough to hear Liam say,

            “I’m not going anywhere.”

            


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry that I didn't get to post anything last week! I'll try to post another chapter this week to make up for it! 'Try' is the key word...

            Zayn wasn’t even fully awake yet when his humiliation hit him the next day. His eyes were still closed; some strange dream where he took Isa to a circus and the kid told Zayn that he didn’t like him anymore and that he wanted to run away with a clown playing behind his lids when his subconscious popped in to tell him to wake up and make sure that Liam hadn’t fled yet, since he’d acted like a proper idiot the previous night. He’d cried in front of Liam-while talking about his ex, no less-and laid way too much of his feelings out in the open for him to see. Zayn wouldn’t have blamed Liam if he’d gotten up,  called a cab and left in the middle of the night, and, infuriatingly, a lump formed in his throat just at the thought.

            As he came more into consciousness, though, Zayn felt weight across his middle and upon opening his eyes, wincing against the very mild light pouring into the room, he realized that the weight came from Liam’s arm, still slung across him, almost protectively. Still, Zayn didn’t let himself get too excited. Liam had been quite intoxicated, so perhaps he just hadn’t been able to make himself move. As soon as he woke, Zayn wouldn’t be surprised if he made up some excuse to get home and then Zayn never saw him again.

            Under that conclusion, Zayn decided that he had the right to be selfish and a little creepy, and he watched Liam sleep for a good few minutes, finding it adorable how he frowned while trying to wake up, rubbing his face in the pillow and making small grunts, but not able to open his eyes.

            Finally, after giving a cough along with a small, ‘ouch,’ Liam opened his eyes, rubbing them lightly and blinking everything into focus. He stared at the ceiling for a few moments, breathing heavy, and Zayn was worried that he might be sick, but then Liam turned his head, smiling sleepily at the man whose bed he was in.

            “Good morning,” he croaked, and then cleared his throat. “Wow, that was hot.”

            “It was,” Zayn agreed with a laugh, even though Liam had been speaking sarcastically. “And good morning. Are you alright?”

            “I have a headache, but I’m fine,” Liam said, taking Zayn’s hand. “How about you?”

            “Same. Luckily for us, I have medicine.”

            “Mm,” Liam hummed, not letting go of Zayn’s hand to allow him to get the medication. “I missed you.”

            “You missed me?” Zayn asked, tilting his head in confusion.

            “Yeah. While I was sleeping, I missed you.”

            “Oh,” Zayn said with another small laugh, almost forgetting about the worries he had a mere minute ago. “Okay, cheeseball.”

            Not denying it, Liam gave a smile and rolled over to kiss Zayn’s arm before sitting up and rubbing his head again.

            “I did, though,” he claimed. “You were in my dream.”

            “Was it a good dream, then?” Zayn asked, wiggling his eyebrows, but quickly stopping, remembering that his head hurt too much for that.

            “It was,” Liam assured him.

            “Good. Let me go get us something for our heads and then we should probably get some food.”

            “Yeah, I’m starving,” Liam agreed. “It’s my turn to cook, though.”

            “When have I ever cooked?” Zayn asked.

            “You made Zoey and me waffles when you stayed over at my place.”

            “All I did was stick them in the toaster.”

            “Hey, that takes a lot of effort somedays.”

            “True, but…I have a better idea.”

            “Oh yeah? What’s that?”

            “Let’s cook together!”

            Zayn spoke as if he was trying to convince Isa that something was exciting when it wasn’t, and Liam pulled his eyebrows together, letting out a huff of a laugh and then rubbing his head.

            “How can I say no to that?” he asked out loud, his voice worse again, as if he just woke up. Zayn leaned down to kiss the man’s cheek and then slowly got out of bed, his head spinning a little, but not to a dangerous degree.

            “I’ll go get the medicine,” he said. “You good?”

            “I’m good,” Liam assured him, though giving that he was still squeezing the bridge of his nose, his eyes shut tight, Zayn wasn’t sure.

            “You look like you need your appendix out again,” Zayn commented, and Liam opened his eyes long enough to shoot an offended look at the other man.

            “That’s not nice,” he said.

            “I didn’t mean it as an insult,” Zayn promised. “I thought you were hot, green-faced and all.”

            “You are something, Mr…Shit, I don’t know your last name.”

            “Malik,” Zayn said, “and I’m going to take that as a compliment.”

            “It was meant as one.”

            “Good.”

            Without another word, Zayn walked off, retrieving his pain killers from the bathroom and taking a couple before taking some back to Liam, along with a glass of water.

            “Thank you,” Liam said, sitting up after what appeared to be an internal debate on whether to do so or not.

            “My pleasure,” Zayn told him, watching as he swallowed both of the pills with ease.

            “Okay,” the dancer sighed after finishing his glass of water, “I’m actually good now.”

            “Positive?”

            “Definitely.”

            “Alright. What sounds good to eat?”

 

After quickly washing up in an attempt to make themselves feel a little more human, the men decided on a nice breakfast of eggs, toast and turkey bacon. Even though Zayn had called Liam a cheese ball earlier for his comment of missing Zayn in his sleep, Zayn was a cheese ball in the fact that he loved the domestic things such as cooking together. It wasn’t something he’d been able to do often with his previous significant other, but he always enjoyed it when they did, and with Liam, it was better, even if both of them were fighting off headaches and random waves of nausea. Liam talked while they cooked and hummed during the brief periods of time where there wasn’t conversation. He poked fun at Zayn’s turkey bacon instead of ‘true bacon,’ until Zayn told him it was a religion thing, and then he felt so bad that Zayn thought he might end up crying, so Zayn kissed him against the counter until Liam was convinced that he wasn’t mad at him.

“I think we should open a restaurant later on in life, when we’re, like, old, with nothing else to do. This smells delicious,” Liam stated once the food was ready and Zayn was pouring each of them some juice.

“I’m not doubting our cooking skills, but I think our desperate need for food has a lot to do with the phenomenal smell,” Zayn commented.

“We’ll see,” Liam said, picking a piece of the turkey bacon up and biting into it. His eyes widened briefly before closing, a content smile placing itself on Liam’s face. “Mmm,” he hummed. “This is even better than pig bacon.”

“You don’t have to say that,” Zayn said after rolling his eyes, but with a smile on his face.

“No, I’m serious,” Liam said. “It’s a lot less fatty…I really like it!”

“I’m glad,” Zayn told him, setting their glasses on the table and then taking a couple of plates from the cabinet, handing one to Liam. “Guests first.”

            For a couple of minutes, neither man said anything; focused instead on devouring their breakfast. Then, after Zayn’s stomach had stopped growling and he could feel his blood sugar climbing back up to a normal level, he started conversation again.

            “So, what does Zoey want for her birthday?” he asked the other, who gave a confused look as he swallowed his food before speaking.

            “How did you know her birthday was coming up?” he replied.

            “You told me on the first day we met that her birthday is next month.”

            “Oh…Sorry. That night is such a blur. I remembered your face, but I don’t think I remembered anything else.”

            “My face is my best quality,” Zayn said, causing Liam to snort and nearly choke on some juice. When he composed himself, he continued,

            “You and Isa are invited to Zoey’s birthday party, but you don’t have to get her anything.”

            “Of course I’m going to get her something,” Zayn said. “Isa will pick it out himself, but I may need an idea of where to direct him so she doesn’t end up with a dinosaur or a superhero.”

            “Honestly, she’d play with anything, but she’s getting really into baby dolls.”

            “Baby doll, got it,” Zayn said, nodding as he took a bite of toast.

            “I still can’t get over how cute Isa and Zoey are when they play together,” Liam commented, smiling as if picturing the pair in his head.

            “I can’t either. They’re so happy together. Think they’ll fall in love?”

            Zayn was mostly joking, as he wasn’t going to be the type of father to think that Isa would fall in love with everybody he talked to, but Liam smiled a little bigger.

            “I don’t know. That would be cute, but also slightly awkward.”

            “Why would it be awkward?” Zayn questioned, hesitating on taking a bite of bacon.

            “Because,” Liam said, shifting in his seat and looking suddenly nervous, even though his smile was still set in place. When he didn’t finish the thought, Zayn raised a curious eyebrow.

            “Because…?”

            “I just think it would be awkward if they fell in love and got married while Zoey’s dad was in love with her father-in-law.”

            Liam’s words sent a jolt throughout Zayn’s entire body, and he wouldn’t be surprised if it was visible, but he was glad to feel that he was smiling as well; perhaps embarrassingly so. He didn’t say anything right away, if only for the fact that he was momentarily speechless, and, with a blush rising to his cheeks, Liam rushed to continue.

            “I know it hasn’t been long at all since we’ve known each other and I’m not trying to rush anything along, but I just…I really can’t get you off my mind, like, ever, and even though I tried to tell myself it’s just a crush, this doesn’t feel like any crush I’ve ever had. I don’t get nervous around you and even though I still have so much to learn about you, I kind of feel like I’ve known you for years. I don’t want you to feel awkward or like you have to agree, I just...I…I’m going to shut up now. I’m sorry.”

            “Why are you sorry?”

            “You didn’t need all this emotional word vomit this morning…or any morning…or ever,” Liam replied, shifting in his seat again and looking as if he may be on the verge of sweating. Zayn hoped that ‘emotional word vomit’ would be the only type of vomit to come from Liam’s mouth, but from the look on his face, he wasn’t so sure.

            Suddenly getting a rare, yet intense, burst of confidence, Zayn said,

            “Hey, can I tell you something?”

            Liam nodded, his eyes wide and actually fearful. He was so cute that Zayn had to smile and shake his head in disbelief before speaking again.

            “While we were at the museum, even before we kissed, I could physically feel something happening to me with the way I felt about you. I tried to tell myself it was a crush too, but I agree; this doesn’t feel like an ordinary crush. It’s so much better. It’s like the part of the movie where the couple starts falling in love, signaling either great or awful things are to come, but for the time being, it’s the best feeling.”

            After a brief pause, Zayn smiled, sat up straighter and asked,

            “How’s that for emotional word vomit?”

            “It was beautiful,” Liam said, his smile teasing but his tone sounding like he meant his words. “That was the most beautiful vomit I’ve ever witnessed and, believe me, I’ve witnessed a lot.”

            “Oh, I believe you,” Zayn assured him, leaning forward so that he could kiss Liam. Liam smiled afterward, his eyes scanning Zayn’s face before he took a more serious look.

            “I think our movie will have great things to come; maybe even so great that we won’t really notice if there are awful things.”

            Instead of replying, because while Zayn didn’t _expect_ anything bad to happen, he didn’t expect it not to happen either, and he didn’t want to ruin Liam’s optimism, the teacher took the other’s hand, noting right away that it was sweaty. Maybe Liam was optimistic on the outside, but Zayn had seen enough of him to know that he wouldn’t be surprised by an unfortunate turn of the tables either, and he vowed to himself to do whatever he could to not let that happen. He may fail, but, damn it, would he try.

            “Besides Isa, Louis falling off that table was the best thing to ever happen to me,” he said, and Liam laughed, the tension in his shoulders easing away.

            “Besides Zoey, my appendix rupturing was the best thing to ever happen to me,” Liam returned.

            “Right,” Zayn said sarcastically, giving Liam’s hand a squeeze while he did so. “I really don’t know how you managed all day like that and then still got yourself and Zoey to the hospital. You’re quite amazing, Liam Payne.”

            “You must really be falling in love with me if you think that,” Liam teased, but, having none of it, Zayn shook his head.

            “I am falling in love with you,” he said, “but you’re also amazing.”

            Instead of breaking Zayn’s heart by putting himself down more, Liam settled on kissing the top of the other’s hand and then silently turning back to breakfast. Zayn let go of his hand, continuing to eat as well, but scooted over so that their knees were touching.

 

            Later that night, Liam and Zayn’s relationship became ‘Facebook official,’ and Zayn hadn’t thought about the fact that he’d yet to even mention the other man to his family. That, of course, led to an almost hour long conversation, but they all assured Zayn that they were happy for him, his older sister claiming that almost anybody had to be better than that ‘twat’ he was married to before. Zayn wondered why no one had told him that Garrett was completely wrong for him before their wedding, but that didn’t matter anymore.

 

            Two days later, on the day that Zayn was to get Isa again, Garrett insisted on dropping the child off, saying he had errands to run anyway. As soon as Isa arrived, he gave Zayn a hug and then ran to his bedroom to verify that his toys were still there, as he did every time he first got to his baba’s house after a few days. Garrett and Zayn both watched him run off and, once he could be heard talking to his stuffed bear, Cereal (named by Isa himself), the older man turned to his ex-husband, who instantly developed a sinking feeling in his chest.

            “So it’s serious between you two then,” he stated.

            “Not serious as in we’re going to run off and get married anytime soon, but, yes…we’re exclusive,” Zayn said, taking deep, yet subtle, breaths in order to keep his attitude in check. He didn’t know why Garrett was so obsessed with his and Liam’s relationship, but nothing he said mattered, and he simply needed to remember that.

            “Oh,” Garrett said, his face blank, but his body language showing his displeasure. “I just…I’m happy for you, I guess, Z, if you’re happy, but I just always thought that you and I would get back together one day.”

            “What in the great wide world would ever make you think that?!” Zayn questioned, not doing a great job of hiding the fact that he was appalled.

            “We loved each other. That has to mean something.”

            “Maybe we loved each other at first, but honestly, I think we loved the idea of each other more. We loved who we thought we could be for one another and when we realized that wasn’t who we were at all, everything changed.”

            “That’s not true.”

            “Yes, it is. We fought _all_ the time. You slept on the couch for a month before we decided to have Isa, and then it still took a bit after we found out that we were going to be fathers for you to come back to bed.”

            “Everyone needs their distance sometimes, Zayn. That’s all. We’ve had so much distance for so long now and I realize that my feelings for you never changed.”

            “I’m sorry to hear that,” Zayn said, swallowing against the lump in his throat. He wasn’t upset at the possibility that Garrett may still love him, because that wouldn’t have been anything he could control and, still, nothing would change. Rather, he was upset over the fact that Garrett only claimed to love him when he wanted to make him lose something great that he had going on in his life. “I’m sure you’ll find someone else someday.”

            _It’s clearly not hard for you,_ Zayn didn’t say.

            “You’re sure you know what you’re getting into?” Garrett asked, his voice much more condescending that it had been moments ago.

            “Yes,” Zayn said. “Isa will always be my first priority, but there’s a new man in my life now and he’s very important to me, so if you still care about me like you claim, then please just let me be happy. We both deserve to be happy after everything, yeah?”

            “Yeah,” Garrett sighed. “Alright. Fine. I’m glad you’re happy.”

            Without another word or even glance to Zayn, Garrett called out a goodbye to his son and promptly left. It was Zayn’s turn to let out his typical ‘ex-husband’ sigh, but he quickly put a smile on his face when Isa came running from the room.

            “Where’s daddy?” the kid questioned, looking around Zayn’s legs as if he could be hiding there.

            “He’s already gone. We knew you were having so much fun with your toys that we didn’t want to interrupt you. Do you want to see if you can see him out the window?”

            Isa nodded, raising his arms so that Zayn could lift him up and carry him to the window. Garrett was just backing out of the driveway, and luckily, he saw Isa wave, which satisfied the child enough, and as soon as his other father’s car was out of sight, he politely asked Zayn to put him down and then quickly ran back to his room.

            Besides Garrett calling once a night to talk to Isa, Zayn didn’t hear from him again until he dropped Isa back off three days later. Typically, that was how things between them were, at least until Liam had come into the picture, and that was definitely the way that Zayn preferred them. That was why Zayn didn’t know the reason it bothered him when he was let into his ex-husband’s house by the man he had cheated on him with, or why he found it a little hard to breathe when Garrett came up behind him to kiss his shoulder before saying hi to his and Zayn’s son while ignoring Zayn completely.

            Zayn wasn’t jealous, of course. He’d told the truth when he said that he didn’t want Garrett back and he was happy with Liam. Still, whatever feeling he was experiencing was quite unpleasant, but he forced a smile anyway and didn’t leave any faster than he would have normally.

            If he punched the steering wheel after he’d made it halfway down the road, no one would ever know. He was meeting Liam and Zoey for lunch, though, and right after the first kiss from his boyfriend, everything was okay again.

 

            “Baba, guess what?!”

            “What is it, Isa?!”

            “I get to go spend the night with Nana Carol!”

            “Oh, that’s exciting!” Zayn replied, and meant it. Garrett’s mother was a lovely lady. Zayn often claimed that game night with Carol and her husband were what he missed most about his  previous marriage.

            “I’m going out with Daniel,” Garrett spoke from somewhere in the distance, and Zayn rolled his eyes because he hadn’t asked nor cared.

            “You’ll have so much fun with Nana Carol,” Zayn said to his son, who carried on talking as if his other father hadn’t tried to rudely interrupt.

 

            _Do_ _I get a picture of tonight’s first outfit?_ Zayn texted Liam later that night, a few minutes before he knew the man would be beginning his shift. The loneliness was hitting Zayn harder that night for some reason. Even the newest book by his favorite author couldn’t distract him and he felt pathetic, but he knew there was nothing he could do to change it.

            Only a minute or so after he sent his message, Liam replied with a picture via snap chat of himself in only a man-thong and a tie. Zayn’s mouth fell open without his permission, but he thought it was a reasonable reaction and he took a screen shot, belatedly remembering that Liam was able to see that he’d done so. After a moment of panic, Zayn decided that it was completely worth it and shrugged it off.

            _Gorgeous, as always_ , Zayn replied with a simple picture of himself with the best smile he could muster.

            _What are you reading?_ Liam replied with a picture decorated by a new filter. Confused, Zayn wondered if he was honestly that predictable before realizing that his book was still sitting face-down on his lap. After sending a picture of the cover, Liam replied that he would have to tell him about it later, and then sent him a text saying he wouldn’t be able to reply for a while but to have a good night. He’d sent the kissing emoji with the heart beside of it, and while that was nice and cute, Zayn wished he could kiss him for real. Instead of telling him as much, he told him to have a great night and let him know when he got home safely, adding a heart of his own.

            After talking to Liam for those couple of minutes, Zayn was able to focus on his book for a little while, but his eyes soon grew heavy and he decided to call it a night early, making sure to set his notification volume on high so that he would hear when Liam sent him something.

            As Zayn rose to his feet, he heard the ding of the phone that he’d just slipped into his pocket and, getting excited, he pulled the device out again and unlocked it before he even verified who was trying to get a hold of him. In turn, he was extremely disappointed when he discovered that it had only been Garrett. Confusion soon took over his disappointment when he read his message.

            _Hey, Z, Romeo says hello =]_ , his ex had typed.

            Zayn, of course, only knew one Romeo that wasn’t from an overrated Shakespeare play, but Garrett didn’t know him. He knew _of_ Liam, but he had never mentioned Liam’s occupation or stage name.

            _What???_ Was the only thing Zayn could think to say, and Garrett replied with a picture almost right away; a picture of Liam in the costume Zayn knew he was currently wearing. Zayn didn’t know if he was more disgusted with Garrett thinking that Zayn would be taunted, or the fact that he had taken a creeper shot of Liam, who was leaning seductively against a table, smiling as he talked to a strip club patron.

            _He’s gorgeous, isn’t he?_ Zayn replied, refusing to let Garrett know how disgusted he was with him because that was what his former husband wanted. That had clearly not been the reaction that Garrett had been expecting because it took him a while to reply, but when he finally did, Zayn nearly saw red.

            _Would it be awkward if I requested a lap dance?_

Zayn hadn’t thought of what to say back yet before another text from his ex came in.

            _That probably would be awkward,_ it read. _I’ll let Daniel have him._

_Make sure to tip him well =],_ Zayn replied at the same time that he was slipping his shoes on.

 

            “Hey, Zayn!” Colt greeted when he walked into the club, not having to look at the man’s ID before he recognized him that time.

            “Hey, Colt,” Zayn said, forcing a quick smile. “Do they ever let you from out behind the counter to have fun?”

            “Nope. I’m just the front desk lad!”

            “So, you’re the face of the club,” Zayn concluded, causing the other to give a bright smile.

            “Yeah! I like that! Anyway, go on in.”

            Zayn didn’t even argue about paying that time. Instead, he simply told Colt to have a good night and then began his quest to find Garrett or Liam; preferably Liam, but he wasn’t remaining too hopeful.

            As it turned out, Zayn found his ex-husband and his boyfriend at the same time, as they were seated at a table, Liam in the middle of Garrett and Daniel, sitting up straight with his legs spread wide open, nearly revealing areas that Zayn wished no one else to ever see of Liam.

            Hoping that nobody could see the way his hands were sweating or sense the sick feeling he had, Zayn approached the table. Garrett was the first to see him, and a wide grin spread across his face, making Zayn want to punch him square in the mouth.

            “Hey, Zaynie!” he shouted, causing Liam’s head to snap towards where Garrett was looking, his legs closing immediately.

            “Hey,” Zayn said flatly as he approached the table, folding his hands together and laying them on the surface as he looked at Liam, whose confused face quickly turned to one of worry. He fish-mouthed a bit, seeming to be looking for the correct words, but unable to find them.

            “Well…this is awkward,” Garrett commented after a few moments in which no one said anything. Daniel snorted and Zayn wanted to punch him in the nose.

            “That’s alright,” Zayn said, surprising himself when his voice came out calm, yet snarky, as he’d intended but hadn’t expected. “I always knew introducing my boyfriend to my ex-husband would be uncomfortable, so at least we’re getting it out of the way early, I suppose.”

            “Oh…Oh god!” Liam nearly shouted out as the pieces clicked into place, and he jumped off of his chair so fast that he nearly fell over. With rage, worry and many other undesirable emotions building inside of him, Zayn wondered if Liam had had anything to drink that night, and if his ex had supplied any of it if so.

            Nodding to each individual as he spoke of them, Zayn said,

            “Liam, this is Garrett and that’s Daniel, his…To be honest, I don’t know what they are. Garrett, this is Liam, who I know you’ve heard so much about already!”

            As Zayn introduced the trio, Liam walked over to stand behind Zayn, perhaps to hide his body the best he could.

            “As I said before, it’s very nice to meet you, Romeo. Er…Liam,” Garrett said, a smirk on his face that Zayn didn’t like. When he turned to face his boyfriend, it looked as if he wanted to cry, and Zayn suddenly felt bad, hoping that he didn’t have anything to do with that sad look.

            “Do you mind if we go somewhere a little quieter, babe?” Zayn asked, not meaning for the first time he used a pet name on Liam to be around his ex-husband, but not caring either.

            In response to Zayn’s question, Liam nodded, but before following him, he took a few notes from his outfit and threw them back on the table. Garrett actually had a damn smirk on his face, and if Liam hadn’t taken his hand right then, Zayn may have actually punched him.

            Okay, he probably wouldn’t have, because Zayn wasn’t a violent person and he knew that punching the other father of his child would be a dumb move, but Liam’s touch still made it easier for him to walk away peacefully.

            Liam led the way; taking Zayn to a room on the side of the building where patrons went to get lap dances, it seemed. The two went to the back, where, between the distance and the way the half-walls were built, providing minimal privacy, they were almost entirely hidden.

            There was only one chair in the area, which Liam gestured Zayn to sit on before he positioned himself onto his lap, facing forward. There was nothing sexual about the moment, though, because Liam’s shoulders were slumped and he still had the sad look in his eyes that Zayn wanted to kiss away, but didn’t know if he could.

            “I’m sorry,” Liam said, biting the inside of his lip before going on. “I had no idea he was your ex.”

            “I’m not mad at you,” Zayn assured Liam, resting one hand on his thigh. Liam looked down at it, blinking rapidly.

            “I hate this,” he said quietly; almost so softly that Zayn had to ask him to repeat himself.

            “Hate what?” he asked, having barely figured out what his boyfriend had said.

            “Flirting with other people. Having to pretend I’m interested in them when I’m not, and touching them while, the whole time, I’m wishing they were you.”

            “Babe,” Zayn said, the pet name coming naturally for him that time, even as his voice broke. “If you hate it that much, I’m sure there’s something else we can find for you to do.”

            “Yeah…,” Liam said, chewing his lip again. “I didn’t mind it until I met you. Obviously, I would never want to do this forever, but for the time, it was okay. But now…”

            Liam sighed, looking back at Zayn’s face before he continued.

            “With your history with that bloke out there, I just…I don’t want to hurt you.”

            “Hey, don’t worry about me,” Zayn said, sitting up straighter and nearly kissing Liam before he remembered that he wasn’t allowed to do that at the moment. “I know this is all for work. I trust you.”

            “Did Garrett know who I was the whole time?!” Liam asked then, sounding equal parts sad, mad and disgusted.

            “Yeah,” Zayn sighed. “That’s kind of why I came. I mean, I wanted to see you, obviously, but Garrett is an arse and I didn’t like him being here, preying on you with that thing he’s with.”

            “That other guy…is he the one…?”

            “Yes,” Zayn answered, knowing what Liam meant even with his vague words.

            “Definitely a downgrade. Like, a major downgrade, in every single way,” Liam said, and Zayn laughed.

            “Well, thank you. I appreciate that.”

            “I was serious.”

            “I believe that.”

            “Is this going to cause a problem between you two?” Liam asked, finally unfolding his hands to run his fingers through Zayn’s hair.

            “I don’t think things could get much worse between us unless he tried to change our agreement with Isa,” Zayn said, and then felt another wave of panic when he realized that this could be grounds for him to try something. Zayn, of course, didn’t think of Liam’s job as better or worse than anything else, but no doubt that his judgmental ex was having a field day with the fact that he was a stripper. Zayn knew that Garrett couldn’t actually do anything about the pair’s custody agreement with Isa simply because of the perfectly legal occupation that Zayn’s boyfriend held, but Zayn could see him trying-or at least pretending he was going to.

            Liam didn’t need to know of his worries, though, and so Zayn made sure to not let them show.

            “You don’t have anything to worry about,” he assured the other man. Liam continued to stare at Zayn, breathing heavily until his breath hitched.

            “Can I go home with you?” he asked. “Like, right now?”

            “Of course, if you’re able to do that.”

            Liam nodded, getting off Zayn and helping him up before again leading the way, this time to the bar, where Niall was humming as he counted the tips he’d already earned for the night.

            “Hey, Ni,” Liam said, and the bartender looked up and grinned.

            “Hey, Romy! Hey, Zayn! What’s up?”

            “I’m going home,” Liam said. “Can you please tell everyone that I didn’t feel good or something?”

            “Of course,” Niall said, looking worriedly between the two. “Everything alright though?”

            “Yeah, it’s all good. I’ll talk to you tomorrow, alright?”

            “Alright,” Niall said, sounding unsure. “Have a good night. See ya, Zayn!”

            “Bye!” Zayn called, waving with his free hand as Liam took the other and walked with Zayn out of the back exit.

            “How are things going with Niall and that bloke he liked, by the way?” Zayn questioned.

            “Good,” Liam said. “They have a date the day after tomorrow.”

            “Oh, wow! That’s exciting.”

            “Yeah,” Liam said, smiling to show that he really was happy for his friend, but something was still off.

            “We’ll just ride together and worry about your car later, yeah?” Zayn asked, and Liam nodded. Realizing then that Liam had no idea where Zayn had parked, the teacher began to lead the way, opening the passenger side door for Liam when they reached the vehicle and earning himself a real smile.

            “You are coming to my place?” Zayn verified after getting into the driver’s seat and starting his car.

            “If that’s okay,” he said. “Zoey is with Nicola, my other sister, for the night.”

            “Alright, to my house we go then.”

 

            Liam was silent on the way home, and Zayn didn’t press him to say anything, thinking that maybe he just needed to think. Once they got inside, Zayn locked the door and then bounced up on his toes to kiss Liam.

            “I don’t know how often I can visit you at work. Not doing that is so difficult,” he commented, and Liam gave a huff of a laugh.

            “I’m about to say fuck it anyway,” Liam said, and Zayn tilted his head, wrapping his arms around Liam’s waist as he looked into his eyes.

            “Hey, are you okay?”

            “Yeah, I’m fine,” Liam said, his voice not all that convincing.

            “Did they do anything inappropriate to you?” Zayn asked, meaning Garrett and Daniel, specifically, but he wanted to know the same of all the patrons in general. Liam shook his head.

            “No, not really. They mentioned a threesome, but it’s not me that I’m upset for.”

            “What do you mean?” Zayn asked, kissing Liam’s bare chest, just noticing that Liam was still in costume.

            “I just don’t get how he could do that to _you_. I know you’re divorced and all, but that’s so gross.”

            “Garrett isn’t very socially inclined,” Zayn said. “I’m fine, though, babe, as long as you are.”

            Zayn wondered if Liam actually liked being called ‘babe’ because that was the third time he’d said it that night. He hadn’t argued about it as of yet, though, and Zayn really liked calling him that, so until he was instructed otherwise, he thought he would keep using it.

            “I knew that Louis really didn’t like your ex, andI figured that was just him being a best mate because of what happened at the end, but no, he really is an awful person.”

            “I didn’t make the best decisions when I was younger,” Zayn said, kissing Liam again, wanting him to smile. “I’m sorry they used you like that.”

            “I’m not worried about me.”

            “I know,” Zayn replied, giving his boyfriend yet another kiss, “but I am.”

            “I’m fine,” Liam sighed, and then he laughed.

            “Something funny?” Zayn asked, smiling for the mere fact that Liam didn’t look so internally tortured anymore.

            “I did the Garrett sigh,” Liam commented, and Zayn laughed too.

            “See?!” he said. “It’s a natural reflex about anything that has to do with that man!”

            “It really is!” Zayn giggled, and Liam then decided to give him a kiss. There was still a slight smile on his face when they pulled apart and so Zayn relaxed a bit.

            “Are you hungry?” Zayn asked, but Liam shook his head.

            “Not really,” he said. “Sorry that I invited myself over to your place. I suppose we could have just as easily gone to mine, but yours is so much cozier.”

            “I like your place,” Zayn assured him, “but you can invite yourself over anytime. This flat is lonely without you.”

            “Aw,” Liam said, in a manner which made Zayn think that he’d thought he was just kidding, but Zayn didn’t tell him otherwise.

            “Do you want to change into something else?” Zayn asked.

            “If I could, please,” Liam said. “I didn’t think this whole ‘coming over to your place’ thing over very well.”

            “That’s alright. I’m glad you’re here,” Zayn said. “Come on, I’ll get you something more comfortable to wear.”

            Liam wasn’t a big guy by any means, but he was just the right amount larger than Zayn that the teacher’s clothes fit snug on him. He promised they felt fine, though, and Zayn quite liked how they looked, the t-shirt hugging his muscles just right and the boxers showing off a certain area (that was quite large, Zayn had noted before) exceptionally well.

            Even though Liam looked about as tired as Zayn felt, the two didn’t fall asleep right away after laying down. Instead, they kissed for a while, their hands roaming over each other’s bodies, but never going lower than each other’s waists. Zayn didn’t know who was going to end up having to initiate taking things further, or if it would someday just happen, but for the time being, he was content simply being kissed and touched.

            “I love you,” Liam finally breathed after a good twenty or so minutes of barely coming up for air.

            “I love you,” Zayn returned, only kissing Liam once more after the dancer had collapsed beside of him.

 

            Zayn woke before Liam the next morning and made him breakfast. Liam woke just as the meal was finishing and said it had still technically been his turn to cook, to which Zayn replied that he couldn’t wait for his lazy bum all day and then gave the other a kiss.

            After breakfast, the two showered, Liam borrowing another of Zayn’s outfits, and then went to Liam’s place, as Nicola was going to be dropping Zoey off after lunch. Originally, the plan had been to take Liam to his car and go their separate ways, but Liam claimed that he hadn’t gotten enough time with Zayn the past few days and Zayn agreed, so their plan soon changed to spending the day together before Zayn dropped Liam off at work that night (and maybe went inside to scope the place for a certain ex-husband.)

            “Zayn’s here!” Zoey announced as soon as Liam had opened the apartment door for her and the girl ran around his legs, her arms full of a baby doll. That baby doll was soon on the floor, though, as she bolted over to the sofa and climbed into Zayn’s lap, hugging the man around his neck.

            “Hey, Zoey!” Zayn greeted, shocked by, but happy with, her actions.

            “Hi,” she said.

            “Nicola, this is Zayn,” Liam introduced. “Zayn, this is my sister, Nicola.”

            The two exchanged ‘nice to meet you’s, and then Nicola apologized, but said she had to run off to make an appointment. Liam asked his daughter if she would like to give her aunt a hug before she left, but Zoey was too distracted, playing with the beginnings of Zayn’s beard that he always tried to grow out, but had to shave too often, as Isa wasn’t the biggest fan of it.

            “She thinks your beard is hot too,” Liam commented once he had locked up after his sister and he took his seat next to Zayn again.

            “You like it?” Zayn asked.

            “Yeah. I really do. I tried to grow a beard once, but everyone and their brother told me that I looked like a caveman.”

            “Aw,” Zayn laughed. “I’m sure there were some hot cavemen, though.”

            “Maybe, but I don’t think they would count me as one.”

            “Where’s Isa?” Zoey asked then, finally getting bored of Zayn’s beard and sitting herself in the middle of the men instead of on Zayn’s lap.

            “He’s with his other dad,” Zayn explained, smiling as he did every time he was reminded of how much the children really did enjoy each other’s company.

            “Oh, okay,” Zoey said. “Can we watch Toy Story?”

            “I love Toy Story!” Zayn exclaimed.

            “Me too,” Zoey told him, getting off the couch and running off to find the movie. It didn’t take her long, and after having Liam help her put it in the player, she settled on the couch between her dad and his boyfriend again, letting out a content sigh as she did so. Liam snorted and then looked to Zayn, smiling more when he saw that his boyfriend was grinning, endeared, as well.

            “If only Isa were here, it would be perfect,” Liam commented, and Zayn couldn’t have agreed more.

            _Don’t get too comfortable_ , Zayn reminded himself. _Things usually go smoothly right before they fall apart._

Zayn decided, though, that while he was going to be cautious, he was going to allow himself to have hope enough to enjoy life as it was in that moment.

           

           


	8. Chapter 8

            Zayn ended up watching Zoey while Liam was at work that night, so after dropping the man off at the club, Zoey riding along in Isa’s car seat, Zayn took the girl back to the apartment, where they went on a walk, along with Zoey’s favorite baby doll, Rosie. Zoey insisted on walking and carrying the doll at first, but she grew tired of holding her after only a couple of minutes, leaving Zayn to push the doll in the doll stroller. He didn’t mind, and found it adorable how Zoey checked on her ‘baby’ every so often, looking into the stroller and saying, “You okay, Rosie?” and then, sometimes, telling Zayn that the baby was thirsty or asleep. Luckily, Zayn had brought enough water for both Zoey and Rosie to share, so any crises were avoided.

            After arriving back at the apartment, Zayn helped Zoey change into her pajamas, fed her a snack, read her a couple of stories and then tucked her into bed. She got up a couple minutes later, claiming to be thirsty and then, after drinking a few sips of water, went back to bed, getting up ten minutes later claiming she had to go to the bathroom. After that, she rose only once more to give  Zayn another hug and then, finally, fell asleep.

            A few minutes later, Liam called to check on everyone. Zayn assured him they were both fine, and after being told he could entertain himself with whatever he could find (Zayn resisted making that dirty), the two exchanged ‘I love you’s’ and Zayn decided to watch television.

            He was asleep almost as soon as he settled on a channel, only waking up hours later when he heard the front door close.

            “Sorry,” Liam whisper-spoke when Zayn jumped awake. “I tried to be quiet.”

            “It’s fine. Sorry,” Zayn said, running a hand over his face. “I didn’t mean to fall asleep.”

            “Yeah, how dare you,” Liam teased, heading over to the couch to place a kiss on Zayn’s forehead. “You could have gone to the bed.”

            “I’ll remember that for next time,” Zayn said, stretching his arms out in front of him and then wrapping them around Liam’s neck, giving his boyfriend a sleepy smile. “How was work?”

            “It was alright,” Liam replied with a smile and a shrug.

            “Better than yesterday?”

            “Much better than yesterday.”

            “Good.”

            “Are you staying?” Liam asked, putting his forehead against Zayn’s. “You can wear something of mine to sleep in, and I have an extra toothbrush if you want one.”

            “Do you want me to stay?”

            “Not really,” Liam said, and then kissed Zayn. “Of course I want you to stay, silly.”

            Liam found something for Zayn to wear to bed, retrieved his spare toothbrush for him and then, once Zayn had finished with it, placed it with the others ‘for next time.’

            “Good night, Li,” Zayn muttered into his boyfriend’s chest, being lulled by Liam’s soft breaths and the gentle way his fingernails ran up and down his back.

            “Good night,” Liam said, placing a soft kiss on the top of Zayn’s head. Zayn was asleep again as soon as his lips broke contact.

 

            To Zayn’s surprise, when he arrived back at his own place the next day, it didn’t feel nearly as lonely as usual. Even though Liam, Zoey and Isa were nowhere around, Zayn felt as if they weren’t too far away, and he sang along to the radio as he made himself some lunch.

            He even made it ten chapters into new his book that day.

 

            “When do we get to meet this boyfriend of yours?”

            “Mum,” Zayn groaned. He’d been talking on the phone to the woman for nearly ten minutes and though Liam hadn’t been brought up until then, Zayn had known it was only a matter of time. “It’s too soon. He doesn’t need to meet everyone yet.”

            “Not everyone!” the woman agreed. “Just me…and perhaps Doniya.”

            “You’ll meet him eventually,” Zayn promised, “but he already had to meet Garrett just the other night, so he needs a bit of time to recover.”

            “We’re much more pleasant than Garrett,” Zayn’s mother said, sounding disgusted.

            “I know you are, but still. I promise you will meet him, but just…not right now, okay?”

            “Fine,” she agreed. “He’s such a cutie though, and his daughter is just so precious!”

            “Mum, did you Facebook stalk him?”

            “I didn’t.”

            “Did Doniya Facebook stalk him?”

            “Of course not! Waliyha did. You know how she loves that social media stuff.”

            Zayn rolled his eyes, figuring he should have known, but he hadn’t thought that his eighteen-year-old sister was as invested in his love life as much as his older sister and his mother.

            “You lot are ridiculous,” Zayn told the woman, and she laughed, not offended in the slightest.

            “Just looking out for you, dear.”

            Zayn wanted to tell her that he could look out for himself, thanks, but remembered that, while he’d thought he was head over heels in love with Garrett, everybody else had seen the disaster that was awaiting them. They hadn’t said anything, which Zayn was still confused about, but whatever. 

 

            The next day, when Isa was once again with Zayn, Liam had the night off, and so the couple planned to be together all day and night, until the kids couldn’t withstand anymore. Liam, Zayn and Zoey started early, with breakfast, and then rode to Garrett’s with Zayn to pick up Isa. The idea wasn’t to upset Garrett, but Zayn couldn’t say that he wasn’t pleased with the annoyed look on his face when Zayn told their son that Zoey was in the car and he did a happy dance.

            From Garrett’s house, the group went to the store so that Liam could buy decorations and order a cake for Zoey’s birthday party, which was coming up that weekend. To no one’s surprise, Zoey wanted purple streamers, a purple cake and purple balloons. Isa seemed offended that she didn’t choose the Batman balloon and so, after getting Zayn’s permission, Liam bought him a Batman balloon right then, and Zoey a Spider-man one, per her request.

            All the way back to Zayn’s place, the kids knocked their balloons together and laughed like it was the funniest thing ever. Zayn and Liam couldn’t help but laugh as well, wondering what about a balloon fight could cause such deep belly laughs to come from both children.

            Zayn set up the sprinkler system once back at his house, and though it took some convincing, the kids finally put down their balloons to go play in the water. Since it had been something that Liam and Zayn had talked about before, Liam had brought Zoey’s swimsuit along, just in case, and Zayn was glad because the kids seemed to have fun. Excited shrieks could be heard every time each got just a little wet as they ran around the sprinkler, racing each other and the water.

            To Zayn’s disappointment, Liam didn’t bring his full swimsuit; just some shorts and a t-shirt, though that saved Zayn from having to change into his own trunks, so he tried not to care all that much.

            After playing in the water for a good while, the fathers called for a break so that the kids could help make lemonade and calm down for a few minutes before playing more.

            “I don’t know what we’re going to do when you go back to work in the fall,” Liam told Zayn as he finished stirring Zoey’s lemonade up and carefully handed her the cup.

            “You say that now, but you’ll be bored of me by then,” Zayn assured the other, who rolled his eyes at the same time that he shook his head.

            “Never. Hey, who watches Isa during your days with him when you work?”

            “My parents watch him throughout the school year. I think they hate summer, actually, because they don’t see him much.”

            After a brief pause, Zayn added,

            “Maybe I’ll let them watch him while I take you on a date sometime soon.”

            Liam smiled, having to take a moment before sipping lemonade from the glass he’d already put to his lips.     

            “I’d like that,” he said, “except I’m paying.”

            Zayn sighed.

            “I thought you would have forgotten about that.”

            “No such luck and, actually, I’m off the day after tomorrow so that I can start getting prepared for Zoey’s party, but I suppose I can squeeze a date with you in; unless you don’t want to, of course, since it’s your last day with Isa.”

            “That’s okay,” Zayn said. “My parents would love to see him, and I need to embrace your nights off on the rare occasion they come around.”

            The corners of Liam’s mouth twitched up again as he finally took a sip of his beverage.

            “Hey, can I ask you something, and if you don’t want to answer, you don’t have to? I’m just curious.”

            “Go for it.”

            “What does Garrett do for a living? It’s not important, obviously, but he seems to always be off. Does he work in the school system too?”

            “No. He does sales things, and sometimes he has oddball office hours, but typically he works from home or travels. In my humble opinion, he hasn’t had to take a trip in far too long, though it isn’t like I get Isa any more when he does. Isa just stays with his mum on the days that would be his while he’s gone, but his mum is a much nicer person than he is-“

            Zayn cut himself off briefly to make sure that Isa hadn’t heard him, but he was too busy looking for ladybirds with Zoey to pay them any attention.

            “-so she lets me take him for lunch or dinner once or twice when she has him.”

             “That is nice,” Liam said with a smile, showing that he meant it.

            “It is. I’m grateful. She could make things super awkward and hard on me since I left her son, but she hasn’t.”

            “Well, he’s the d-nugget that cheated,” Liam pointed out.

            “I know,” Zayn said, “but you know how people want to see the best in their children.”

            “I do,” Liam agreed. “I hope I never have that blind love for Zo, though. Obviously, I don’t expect her to be perfect, but I hope I can see her flaws realistically.”

            “From what I’ve seen, I don’t think you will have that problem,” Zayn assured him.

            Liam smiled again, knocking his foot against Zayn’s lightly and then draining his glass before speaking again.

            “Oh, I’m supposed to tell you that Harry and Louis want to go on a double date sometime next week, but I’m mad at your best mate right now, so I’m not sure I want to.”

            “What?” Zayn asked, panicking because he wasn’t sure how serious Liam was being. “What’d he do?”

            “He insulted me greatly,” Liam said, looking off into the distance sadly. Zayn was almost convinced then that he had to be exaggerating the incident, but he still wasn’t quite sure.

            “How did he insult you?” he questioned, feeling for his phone in his pocket in case he had to make an emergency run inside to yell at his friend.

            “He and Harry came to the club the other night and Lou was drinking pretty heavily, but he told me that I looked like…”

            Liam stopped, his nose wrinkling in disgust.

            “He told you that you look like…” Zayn urged.

            “Garrett,” Liam said, whispering the name as if he was daring to speak Voldemort’s real name.

            “He told you that you look like Garrett?!” Zayn asked, wanting to laugh, but too shocked to do so. Naturally, his eyes roamed his boyfriend’s face as Liam confirmed that, yes, Louis did tell him that he looked like Garrett, and suddenly, Zayn wasn’t quite so shocked anymore.

            “I can see it,” he said, causing Liam’s mouth to drop open. Zayn smiled. “You’re much cuter, though,” he added.

            “I…I have never been so hurt in my life,” Liam claimed.

            “You don’t look _a lot_ like him,” Zayn assured him. “You’ve got the same coloring and the same shaped eyes, but his nose is much longer than yours and his body isn’t nearly as impressive. It’s as if he were your third cousin that missed out on the best of the gene pool as it was, and then maybe had his face kicked by a horse as a child.”

            Liam snorted, and even though Zayn had begun to highly doubt that he was truly upset in the first place, he was comforted by the laugh.

            “Thank you. I appreciate that.”

            “Any time. And that’s not the reason I was attracted to you. I promise.”

            Liam shook his head, his lips pressed tightly together, but the corners turned up; his eyes shining, and not only because he was being beautifully illuminated by the sunlight.

 

            It didn’t take long for the kids to wear out, and while they napped in a fort they made on the living room floor, Zayn and Liam went to the kitchen to continue talking at the table. Zayn learned that Liam had been trying to decide whether he wanted to be a firefighter or go to university for music before he found out that Zoey was going to come into his life, and that he was still planning on doing one of those someday; perhaps when she began school full time.

            “If you decide on music, I’m sure you could take a lot of classes online,” Zayn told the other, not wanting to push him either way, but hoping he had thought of all of his options and chose the one that he felt was best for him and his daughter.

            “Didn’t you hear the ‘Harry had to tutor me in history’ thing?” Liam asked. “I’m not a good student as it is. I would never be disciplined enough to do online schooling.”

            “I could help,” Zayn offered. “I would monitor you and smack you with a ruler whenever you started to doze off; lightly, of course.”

            “As appealing as that sounds, I’m going to say no for now,” Liam told him, his nose wrinkling with amusement. “I’ll keep that in mind, though.”

            Once the kids woke, the group watched a couple episodes of a kids’ television show and then washed up to begin cooking dinner. Liam had the idea to make subs, which was precisely what they did, and Isa and Zoey had a great time stuffing their sandwiches with everything that the adults laid out for them to choose from. Amazingly, they still ate their creations.

            “I’m so glad that I didn’t have a picky kid,” Zayn commented, watching in amusement as Isa shoved his last bite of sandwich into his ranch-covered mouth.           

            “Me too,” Liam agreed. “She went through a picky stage for a few months right before she turned two, but now it’s rare to find anything that she won’t eat.”

            “We’re so lucky,” Zayn said, ruffling Isa’s hair and enjoying that, for the time being, the kid laughed about it.

            “Yeah,” Liam agreed. “We are.”

            When Zayn turned his attention from his son back to his boyfriend, he found the other’s eyes trained intently on him, not even moving away when Liam realized he was busted, and smiled.

            Zayn got up to get more water and hide the fact that his face was probably not a natural color.

 

            That night, Zayn made a huge error in uploading a picture of Liam, Isa, Zoey and himself to his Facebook account and captioning it ‘movie night in with these three cuties,’ for, only about thirty minutes into the film, his mother and two of his three sisters showed up on his doorstep.

            “Hello, dear! Sorry for the unannounced visit,” Zayn’s mother greeted him, not sounding sorry about it at all. “Your sisters and I were just about to run a couple of errands and thought you and Isa would like some biscuits that I baked earlier.”

            Instead of replying, Zayn narrowed his eyes, not about to play along with his mother’s façade.

            “Is it a bad time?” the older woman asked innocently. His sisters had big, cheesy smiles on their faces.

            In the next instant, Isa rounded the corner, and shrieked when he saw who their visitors were.

            “Nanny! Don Don! Wali!”

            “Hey, sweetheart!” Zayn’s older sister greeted, scooping up the kid and squeezing him until he protested, even while giggling.

            “Isa!” Zoey called, and Zayn thought he heard Liam try to coax her back quietly, but the girl came around the corner next, looking at the newcomers curiously.

            “Oh, who is this?!” Zayn’s mother asked, finally deciding to take it upon herself to step inside, since her son had not yet invited her. Her daughters followed.

            “Zoey!” the toddler answered the woman’s question as she walked closer, and, with an internal sigh as he came to terms with the fact that this was really happening, Zayn said,

            “That’s Liam’s daughter.”

            “You are precious,” the woman told the girl, stroking her hair. “Is Liam here then?”

            “I think you know that he is,” Zayn said, and Waliyha giggled, confirming his suspicion. With a roll of his eyes, Zayn motioned for the others to follow him, and with Doniya holding Isa and Zayn’s mother holding Zoey’s hand, as the child had insisted, they entered the family room, stopping only so that the mom could put the baked goods on the kitchen table.

            Liam rose to his feet as soon as the group entered the room, looking between everyone nervously, but still doing his best to smile. Holding in yet another sigh, Zayn said,

            “Liam, this is my mum, Trisha, and my sisters Doniya and Waliyha. Mum, sisters…this is Liam, my boyfriend.”

            “It’s nice to meet you!” Trisha said, stepping forward to eagerly shake the man’s hand. The younger girls did the same, giving Liam what Zayn thought were too-obvious nods of approval.

            “They were just running errands and decided to bring over biscuits, apparently,” Zayn said.

            “That’s right,” Trisha said. “We won’t stay long. Sorry to interrupt your film.”

            “Oh, no, that’s fine,” Liam assured them while Isa said,

            “We’re watching _Trolls_!”

            “That sounds so fun!” Doniya said.

            “I like the pink one,” Zoey told them.

            “She was my favorite too,” Waliyha said.

            “She’s my favorite too,” Isa claimed.

            “It sounds like you lot are having a fun night,” Trisha said. “We’ll get going so you can get back to your film. It was nice to meet you, Liam and Zoey!”

            While Liam assured them, whether false or not, that it was nice to meet them as well, Zoey gave the three ladies hugs, if only because Isa did.

            “Sorry, she’s a cuddler,” Liam said, grinning at his daughter and picking her up as she ran to him, giggling; embarrassed from all the attention.

            “That’s nothing to apologize for,” Zayn’s mother assured him. “She’s sweet.”

            “Most of the time,” Liam said, and then, “I’m kidding, she is.”

            Still embarrassed, Zoey was hiding her face in Liam’s neck. With a smile at the both of them, Trisha said goodbye, gave Zayn a hug and a kiss on the cheek, and then allowed her son to walk them out.

            “Sorry about that,” Zayn told Liam as he joined him again. Liam had taken a seat on the couch, with Zoey next to him, still cuddled close but not hiding anymore, and Isa next to Zoey, playing with the television remote.

            “No, it’s totally fine,” Liam assured him, smiling in a way that Zayn believed him.

            “They definitely did that on purpose,” Zayn said anyway. “I should never have posted that status.”

            “You’ve met my mum and sisters,” Liam pointed out.

            “Yeah, but that wasn’t something they deviously planned out.”

            “It’s fine,” Liam said, shrugging and still smiling. “They seem nice.”

            “Biscuit?” Isa asked.

            “Alright,” Zayn said. “Does anyone else want one?”

 

            The day of Zoey’s birthday party, Karen took her and Isa to the movies while Liam and Zayn set up at the park where Liam was having the event. While Liam put streamers around the gazebo and set up the food table, Zayn set up the tables where they would be eating and secured the balloons all around. It didn’t take as long as they thought it would, and so they spent the last half hour before guests showed up swinging on the adult swings and kissing on a nearby bench. Nicola and Roo came a little early to make sure that the men didn’t need any last-minute help, and when they discovered that they didn’t, the four sat inside the gazebo, simply talking. Zayn couldn’t believe how natural it felt; sitting with Liam’s family like that, and he hoped that, once his own family stopped showing up unexpectedly, they could eventually have moments like that with them, too.

            “You know, Liam, you really took a chance with the weather, having this outside,” Nicola commented, looking around and seeming to be embracing the hot, but not too torturous, temperature, and the clear, blue sky.

            “I know,” he said, “but it was that or have it at mum’s house, and you know how dad likes to help with things. I mean, it’s really nice of him, but it never quite goes right.”

            “Don’t we know it,” Nicola and Roo said at the exact same time.

            “Sorry, Zayn, but you’re going to have to meet my dad today,” Liam said then, looking over at his boyfriend.

            “Should I be afraid?” Zayn asked, one eyebrow raised.

            “Probably not,” Liam admitted. “He’s a good guy, just a bit…emotional. He will probably cry at some point today.”

            “Especially since Zoey is turning three and he claims that she’s the only grandchild he’s going to get,” Nicola added.

            “So rude,” Roo sighed. “We’re not _that_ old.”

            “You’re not old,” Zayn said with a laugh. “I know what you mean, though. My dad tells my older sister all the time that he has no idea how the man who penetrates men had a baby before she did.”

            The three laughed, Liam looking as if he felt bad for doing so, but Zayn smiled at him, hoping to assure him that everything was alright.

 

            It wasn’t too much later that Karen arrived with the kids and her husband, who Liam promptly introduced to Zayn as ‘Geoff.’ He did seem like a pleasant man, and, though Zayn had been a bit nervous before, he relaxed immediately.

            Harry and Louis arrived soon after Karen and Geoff, and gave both of their friends hugs. Harry hugged Nicola and Roo as well while Louis went to join Isa and Zoey, who were being watched intently by Liam’s mom as they played in the sandbox. The rest of the party guests filed in fairly quickly after that, including Liam’s grandfather and two grandmothers as well as Niall, Colt and a couple of Liam’s other co-worker friends. Harry’s mom and sister also came, and one of Liam’s aunts. Liam kept apologizing profusely to Zayn for ‘not having thought of all the people he would have to meet,’ but Zayn assured him that it was fine, because it was. He was glad that he had Louis for when Liam was talking to his family members and Zayn felt too awkward to put himself into the conversation, but even if Louis hadn’t been there, Zayn would have had a good time.

            Harry was put on picture-taking duty during the party with his polaroid camera, and he took his job very seriously. He took photos of the food before they ate as well as various guests while they ate. He, of course, photographed Zoey blowing out her candles, Liam standing close by in case something were to go wrong, and he captured the girl opening every single present.

            Zayn and Liam sat side-by-side, holding hands, while Zoey opened her gifts. Liam would occasionally have to free his hand to help Zoey with a particularly difficult package, but usually, the independent girl wanted to do it by herself until she let a squirming and slightly jealous Isa slide off of Zayn’s lap and help her.

            Zayn offered to stay and help clean up after the party, but Liam had apparently caught onto the fact that Garrett had called three times during the event, no doubt wondering when he would be dropping Isa off to him, and so he sent him on his way with a kiss as well as a hug for Isa.

            “Finally,” Garrett commented after he opened the door for Zayn and their child, who hugged his older father around the legs before running off to check on the house.

            “Sorry, but I told you we had a birthday party to go to,” Zayn told him. “I didn’t have my phone near me during it.”

            The last part was a lie, which Garrett probably knew, but he couldn’t prove it, so Zayn wasn’t worried about it.

            “Whose birthday party was it?” Garrett asked.

            “Zoey’s.”

            “Romeo’s kid?”

            “Liam’s yes.”

            “Did Isa have fun?”

            “He had a great time.”

            “Good.”

            Movement from behind Garrett distracted Zayn, and he looked over to see Daniel carrying Isa in.

            “Oh, hey, Zayn,” Daniel greeted as if he’d had no idea that the man was still there.

            “Hey,” Zayn said, his eye nearly twitching seeing that man touching his son. Of course, he was sure that Daniel wouldn’t do anything to harm his child, because even Garrett wouldn’t put up with that, but Zayn felt as if he had to have some form of evil in him. He didn’t let his feelings show though, and he took mild comfort in the fact that, while Isa didn’t look uncomfortable, he didn’t have his arms around the man’s neck like he did when Liam carried him.

            “Anyway, I have Liam’s car, so I have to go get him and Zoey from the park. I’ll see you later, Isa! I love you!”

            “Love you, baba!” Isa said, motioning for Daniel to put him down so that he could give Zayn a hug. Zayn kissed his cheek, ruffled his hair, said a quick goodbye to the two adults and left.

            “Hello,” Liam called as Zayn approached him at the park again, drawing out the ‘o’ in the word. When he was close enough, Liam gave him a kiss, then studied his face and frowned.

            “What?” Zayn asked, tilting his head as he wrapped his arms around Liam’s middle. Belatedly, he realized that Karen, Geoff, Nicola and Roo were still there, but then he decided that he didn’t care all that much. Liam had kissed him first, after all.

            “I don’t like when you have to see that man,” Liam commented. “You always seem very gloomy afterward.”

            “I’m not gloomy,” Zayn assured him, kissing Liam. “A bit nauseated, yeah, but gloomy…nah.”

            Liam laughed, and Zayn felt the vibration in his chest as Liam pulled him tight against him. Neither said anything; simply enjoyed each other’s embrace for a few moments before Liam eased away with a smile.

            “We’re almost done here and then we can go,” he said.

            “What can I help with?” Zayn asked.

 

            Zayn was going to stay over at Liam’s place that night; something that Zoey got great pleasure out of when she found out. She made the men test out all of her new toys with her, not that they minded, and she and Zayn played ‘toss the balloon’ for twenty whole minutes before dinner, which simply consisted of warmed up leftovers from the party and, of course, another piece of cake.

            As Zoey had almost completely skipped her nap-only sleeping for a few minutes in the car on the way home from the party-she was worn out, and insisted she get her bath and go to bed right after dinner.

            “Good night, Zayn,” the girl said, prodding, in her nightgown, to the couch where Zayn was sitting as she rubbed her eyes.

            “Good night, Zo,” Zayn returned, giving the girl a hug and a kiss on the forehead. “Sweet dreams.”

            “See you in the morning.”

            “Yes, I’ll see you in the morning.”

            Liam tucked the girl into bed, and Zayn could hear him reading her a story before he returned to him, sighing as he sank onto the couch next to his boyfriend.

            “You did great with the party,” Zayn told Liam.

            “I couldn’t have done it without you,” Liam said.

            “You totally could have. Everyone had such a good time, and your dad didn’t even cry!”

            “Eh, he teared up when Zoey was blowing out her candles.”

            “Well, I think that’s sweet.”

            Liam nodded, unable to verbally answer as a yawn overtook him.

            “You look tired too,” Zayn commented, kissing the man on the cheek and stroking his jawline.

            “I am,” Liam said, laying his head on Zayn’s shoulder.

            “We can go to bed,” Zayn said.

            “It’s only seven.”

            “I won’t tell anyone if you don’t.”

            Liam gave a small snort and then lifted his head to look at Zayn.

            “We could always go lay down in bed and if we fall asleep, we fall asleep…or, you know…We could do whatever...if you want.”

            Liam’s cheeks turned red in an instant and Zayn couldn’t help but to laugh.

            “Subtle, babe,” he said, causing Liam’s blush to deepen. Hoping to comfort him at least a little bit, Zayn gave him a kiss.

            “Do you have stuff?” he asked. Liam nodded.

            “Okay,” Zayn agreed, and, for some reason, Liam looked surprised.

            “Really?”

            “What can I say? You’re pretty sexy.”

            Zayn’s heart was nearly pounding out of his chest at the mere thought of messing around with Liam, both in good ways and not-so-great. He wanted to be intimate with Liam, but his insecurities were still present.

            As nervous as Zayn was, though, he knew Liam had to be worse, as he’d admittedly never been with a man in such a way before.

            In a strange way, though, their discomfort made everything more comfortable because they let go of expectations for each other and themselves. They spent a great deal of time kissing and touching, trying to find out exactly what the other liked, and they took their time before entering one another, making sure they were properly prepared, physically and emotionally. It should have been awkward, really, because there was much more talking and asking of questions than in a typical sexual experience, but it wasn’t awkward at all.

            When Zayn finished, it was from Liam’s mouth, and the shock of it made Liam immediately swallow and, subsequently, choke and gag. Though he felt bad, Zayn couldn’t help but to laugh, having to bite down on his hand to keep from doing so too loudly and waking Zoey.

            “I’m sorry!” Liam whispered, running his hand up Zayn’s thigh after collapsing back down next to him. “That was, like, so rude…Oh my god, I’m so sorry.”

            “It’s fine,” Zayn assured him once he physically could, kissing the man as he continued with small giggles. “You’re fine, babe. I didn’t have time to properly warn you. That was my fault. I’m so, so sorry.”

            Since Zayn still hadn’t completely composed himself, Liam started to laugh too.

            “So would you be offended if I went and got some water?” he asked.

            “Not at all,” Zayn assured him.

            “Do you want anything?”

            “Water, please.”

            Liam got out of bed, slipped on his boxers and padded to the kitchen. He was back in record time, especially given the circumstances, with his glass already half empty, and Zayn kissed him again after taking a sip of his own.

            “You okay, love?” he asked, unsticking a strand of hair from the other’s forehead.

            “I’m great,” he assured him. “You?”

            “Never been better.”

            Liam smiled, kissed Zayn and, after finishing off his drink and setting the empty glass on the floor, he collapsed on his back, his eyes growing heavy. Zayn scooted closer, finally finished with his laughing fit, but still unable to stop smiling.

            It was rare that Zayn actually found sex fun. Yes, it was nice and it felt good, but with Liam, it was much more than physically exhilarating. It was exhilarating in every way, and as they lay in bed after all of it was said and done, Liam fighting with his tired eyes, and quickly losing the battle, Zayn could only hope he felt the same way and that he wouldn’t eventually need to find love in someone else.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As always, I apologize for my inability to write proper smut ;)


	9. Chapter 9

            When Zayn woke up, he was alone, and he would typically have been worried about that, but given that he was at Liam’s place, it wasn’t like the man could just get up in the middle of the night and vanish, never to be seen again. The apartment was silent, which did concern Zayn enough to pull his still-tired self out of bed and go searching. He didn’t have to look long, and he smiled when he saw, through the front screen door, Liam and Zoey sitting on the porch step, talking and eating breakfast. Zayn turned quickly, only to use the toilet and throw on some clothes, and then he went out to join the two.

            “Good morning!” Zoey and Liam said at the same time, Zoey setting down her glass of milk to get up and hug Zayn.

            “Good morning,” Zayn returned, hugging the girl before kissing the top of his boyfriend’s head and then taking a seat himself.

            “I’m dad of the year, so all we had for breakfast was cake,” Liam told the man, “but I can make you something else if you want it.”

            “That’s okay,” Zayn assured him. “I’ll get cake in a minute.”

            “Okay,” Liam said. “We didn’t wake you, did we? We came out here to try to avoid doing that, but voices carr,y and we saw a pretty butterfly, which was very exciting.”

            “You didn’t wake me,” Zayn assured them. “How are you? How did you sleep?”

            “I slept fine, but this cement is not doing anything to help my bum.”

            Zoey laughed at the word ‘bum,’ and the men smiled, glad that she was too young to understand what her father had actually been saying.

            “I’m sorry,” Zayn said, resting his head on the other man’s shoulder.

            “It was totally worth it,” Liam assured him. “Hey, do you have any plans today?”

            “I do not. Do you have plans for me today?”

            “Well, Harry is coming by to drop off the pictures from yesterday and he has his four-year-old cousin with him. She and Zoey always love playing together, so he said that he’ll take her and watch them if you and I want to go do something. He’s watching Zoey tonight anyway.”

            “I think we should,” Zayn said. “You work tonight, yeah?”

            “Yeah, but I have until five or so to do whatever.”

            “Then I’m all yours for the day.”

            Liam smiled and Zayn returned it, excited for the day even though he had no idea what was to come.

 

            Zayn thought it was funny how Liam had talked about his father being an emotional man when the teacher was pretty sure that Liam was tearing up while looking at the pictures that Harry had taken. Of course, Zayn just added that to the list of reasons to be in love with him. Besides, even though he didn’t nearly cry, Zayn felt a wave of deep emotion when he saw the photographs of himself and Liam; both the ones they had posed for and the ones that Harry had sneaked. They were smiling in every single one, always leaning towards each other; usually subconsciously. With the special way that Harry had worked the camera, making the pictures all look staged and professional, Zayn thought that he and Liam could come up on a Google image search of ‘cute couples.’

 

            When Liam mentioned going swimming for the day, Zayn agreed, hoping he could somehow hide the fact that he couldn’t swim.

            Liam discovered his deep, dark secret after only five minutes.

            “It’s okay,” Liam assured his boyfriend repeatedly, sensing his embarrassment. “Are you good if you can touch the bottom?”

            “Um…yeah,” Zayn said, because while he could get in the pool that way, it still made him uncomfortable. Liam sniffed, but was quick to assure Zayn,

            “I’m not laughing at you. I’m just trying to figure out why you agreed to go swimming when you obviously don’t like to swim.”

            “I wanted to see you shirtless and wet,” Zayn admitted.

            “I see,” Liam said, giggling. “If you’d like, I can teach you to swim.”

            “Not in public,” Zayn said. “I tend to scream and flail and yell that I’m drowning even when my head is completely out of water. Will you teach Isa sometime, though?”

            “Of course!” Liam agreed immediately, looking excited at the prospect. “In the mean time, would you like to go somewhere else?”

            “No,” Zayn said. “We’re at the pool, so I will see you shirtless and wet, damn it.”

            “Whatever you wish, sir.”

            Taking Zayn’s hand, Liam walked to the five foot part of the pool and got his boyfriend situated by the edge, his feet dangling in the water, before walking down the steps into the water. He went under for a few seconds, and even though Zayn could see him moving gracefully, it still unnerved him, but then Liam came back up, fixed his hair the best he could and swam over to Zayn, kissing his leg before resting with his arms on the edge of the pool beside of him.

            “Was that really worth it?” he asked.

            “Totally,” Zayn said.

            “We won’t stay long,” Liam assured him anyway.

            “Alright, but whatever we do next, I’m paying because I let you pay for our last date _and_ to get into the pool.”

            “Our last date was an art museum. It didn’t cost much,” Liam pointed out.

            “Doesn’t matter,” Zayn said.

            “You were really cute in the museum,” Liam commented, grinning wide enough to allow his eye dimple to make an appearance. “I really wish paintings inspired me like that. You see a whole story when you look at them. I see colors and shapes.”

            “Well, I draw, so it’s inherent in me, I think.”

            “I didn’t know that you drew!”

            “I haven’t done it for a while,” Zayn said, not adding that he hadn’t had any motivation to do it since the divorce, “but I used to be able to fill up a whole sketchbook in a week.”

            “Do you let people see your work?”

            “Not often,” Zayn said, “but I may make an exception for you.”

            Liam’s smile grew again, and Zayn could tell that it actually meant something to him that Zayn was even considering allowing him to see.

            “Alright,” Zayn spoke again, changing the subject before he started to get feelings over the situation too. “I’m coming in. Be on guard.”

            “I’ve got you,” Liam promised, swimming back and holding out his arms, ready to grab for Zayn. After taking a moment to mentally prepare himself, Zayn pushed his body off of the ledge, and even when his feet slipped out from under him, Liam prevented him from going underneath the water.

            “You good?” Liam asked.

            “Great,” Zayn replied, kissing his boyfriend. “You’re my hero.”

            “Don’t mention it, good sir. Can we try something, though?”

            “Like what?”

            “Get on my back.”     

            “Kinky,” Zayn said.

            “Hush,” Liam scolded, grinning but looking down the bridge of his nose at the man. Zayn smiled widely, in mock-innocence, but then proceeded to swim to Liam’s backside and wrap his arms around his neck. Liam reached behind himself to support Zayn’s bottom half and then, upon making sure that he felt safe (Zayn never felt safe in the water, but this was as good as he was going to get, so he told Liam he did), the dancer began doing small strokes, swimming forward slowly but elegantly, all whilst Zayn nearly choked him from behind in fear, while holding his breath.

            “I’ve got you,” Liam assured him for the second time, and Zayn knew accidents happened, but he trusted Liam, so after a moment, he took a few calming breaths and _almost_ relaxed.

            “Are you watching what I’m doing?” Liam asked after a minute or so of swimming in laps around the pool.

            “Um…yeah,” Zayn said, and it was halfway the truth. He hadn’t been watching his strategy, but he had been very focused on the way that Liam’s muscular arms flexed with every back paddle.

            “Okay,” Liam said, laughing in clear disbelief. Somehow, he managed to turn his body without dropping Zayn into the water, but rather positioning the two so that Zayn’s legs were around his middle. “Nicola’s boyfriend has a pool, so maybe sometime I can take you and Isa there and teach the little guy how to swim; and you, too, if you want.”

            “Isa, definitely. Me…perhaps.”

            Liam smiled, kissing Zayn. Some chlorine water dripped from his hair into Zayn’s eyeball, which Liam noticed and wiped the best he could, which was borderline pointless since his hands were also drenched with chlorine water, but Zayn appreciated the gesture anyway.

            “Sorry,” Liam said. “Are you ready to go?”

            “I’m sorry this trip was a waste of time,” Zayn apologized instead of answering.

            “Whenever I’m with you, it’s never a waste of time,” Liam assured him, and Zayn would have called him a cheese ball again, except he could tell that Liam had been completely serious with his statement. He’d meant it and felt it, and cheesy or not, Zayn knew better than to poke fun at someone’s feelings.

            The pair left the pool only a few minutes later, showering off and changing in the disgusting locker room.

            “Oh, hey, do you mind if we run to the mall really quick?” Liam asked once the two had gotten into his car and the man had checked his phone. “I ordered Zoey some new blinds and just got the text that they came in.”

            “Not at all,” Zayn assured him.

            “Cool, thanks,” Liam said, and took Zayn’s hand as he drove.

 

            “Shit, babe, that short time in the sun turned you red,” Zayn commented when the two had reached the mall and the beginnings of a burn became visible under the harsh lighting.

            “Huh,” Liam noted, sounding amused as he poked a red part of his arm and then watched it turn white for an instant underneath his touch before glaring angrily back at him again.

            “Did you use sunblock?” Zayn asked.

            “No,” Liam said. “I usually don’t put it on myself until a bit after I’ve been out.”

            “What am I going to do with you?” Zayn sighed dramatically. “I guess I should’ve known to hold down your sexy pale arse and smother you with it.”

            “I’m not that pale,” Liam defended, and he did have a nice tan going on, but Zayn would never admit that for the sake of his argument.

            “You are a pasty lad,” he said. Liam snorted.

            “Am not,” he retorted quickly before somewhat changing the subject. “What ethnicities do you have in you, by the way? I’ve been wondering for a while, but I didn’t know if you would think it was weird if I just blurted out that question. It’s a beautiful combination, whatever it is.”

            “Aw, what a charmer,” Zayn said, putting a hand on his heart jokingly but then taking Liam’s hand. “I have Pakistani on my dad’s side and English-Irish on my mum’s. It’s not a weird question, by the way, but even if it was, I already know I’m dating a weirdo, so you can ask me anything.”

            Liam smiled, purposely and cutely wrinkling his nose as he did so.

            “Yeah, I see it now,” he said. “I wish I had something cool to reply, but I just have the ethnicity of paste, apparently.”

            Zayn laughed much more loudly than he’d intended to at that, and covered his mouth with his free hand while he took a moment to compose himself. Liam, in the meantime, looked very proud of the reaction he’d caused.

            “You’re not actually that pasty,” he finally told the man, “and you’re still cool either way.”

            “Thanks,” Liam said, and then, as he tended to do, he turned the conversation back to Zayn. “What culture or cultures did you grow up with then?”

            Zayn and Liam spent the next few minutes talking about Zayn’s upbringing; the holidays he celebrated, the traditions he learned and which ones he kept for himself as he grew older. Even when they entered the store they needed, Liam didn’t go to the help desk right away. He began looking through the clothing racks mindlessly; touching almost every article of clothing but barely ever looking away from Zayn. It was nice, Zayn thought, to have someone this interested in everything he had to say about his childhood (and he ended up saying much more than intended.) Unlike many other people, Liam wasn’t only fake interested, or interested for the sake of judgement. He honestly just wanted to know Zayn inside and out.

            After picking up Zoey’s blinds, Zayn and Liam decided to go back to Liam’s house and chill there until Liam had to get ready for work (though Zayn made sure Liam knew that he would be taking him out somewhere again soon.) The two hanged Zoeys’ blinds and then went to the sofa to watch television, but only after Zayn put aloe on Liam’s burn. In reality, he knew that it wasn’t bad, but putting aloe on his boyfriend’s injured skin made him feel better, and so he did it.

            Off and on, the two men dozed off, curled up together on the small, but still comfortable sofa, and both jumped when Liam’s alarm went off, signaling that he needed to get ready for work. Groaning, Liam rubbed his eyes and looked to Zayn.

            “I guess I have to take you home now,” he said.

            “I guess I’m a little heartbroken then,” Zayn said, kissing Liam and then smiling. “Just let me go to the loo real quick.”

 

            Parked outside of Zayn’s house, he and Liam made out so long that Liam was for sure going to be late for work, but he didn’t seem to mind. Zayn wanted to care, but deep down, he didn’t.

 

            As Zayn had requested, Liam called him that night when he got home from work to assure that both he and Zoey had made it back safely, but the man sounded exhausted, so Zayn didn’t keep him long.

            By the time Zayn woke up the next morning, Liam had already woken and uploaded the pictures from Zoey’s birthday party to his Facebook, making one of himself, Zoey, Zayn and Isa his profile picture. Liam had Zoey in front of him in the photograph and the child was hugging one of his arms, giving the camera a shy smile, while Liam’s other arm was wrapped around Zayn’s waist. Isa was in front of Zayn, his hands folded behind him as he leaned towards the camera, grinning from ear to ear. The adults looked happy as well, though Zayn’s smile in the picture had nothing on the one he wore while looking at it.

            Being nosy, Zayn checked the likes and comments, feeling good when he saw that Liam’s whole family had liked it, along with his own mother and a few other friends (it was still early). A woman named Natalia had also liked it and commented, and Zayn had to think for a few moments on why her name sounded familiar. Finally, he remembered that she was Zoey’s mother.   

            _This is adorable!!!_ The woman’s comment read, and Zayn felt jealousy for a moment, but it faded quickly. Liam had replied with a simple ‘thank you’ and a smiley face, but that meant absolutely nothing. It was okay that Liam and Natalia were still acquaintances. They shared a child, and even though the woman hadn’t wanted to actively be in the child’s life, Zayn couldn’t blame her for wanting to stay connected enough to at least see pictures and know how she was doing. If there was potential for anything to get started with her and Liam again, she most certainly wouldn’t have commented on a picture containing the man and his new boyfriend calling it ‘adorable,’ and so Zayn knew he needed to relax. It was nice that she was supportive, even from far away.

            He wished he could say the same about his own ex, for it wasn’t Natalia he had to worry about.

            Zayn grew nervous when he saw that Garrett was calling him later that day. He typically only rang Zayn when there was something wrong with Isa, and so Zayn picked up immediately, answering with,

            “Hey, is everything okay?”

            “Hey, Zayn. Yeah, everything’s fine, don’t worry.”

            After a pause, Garrett said.

            “Well, everything’s fine with Isa, at least.”

            “What do you mean?” Zayn asked, frowning and taking a seat at the kitchen table. He’d been about to make himself some lunch, but he knew that he would want to be sitting for this conversation and would probably soon lose his appetite anyway.

            “I went to the club last night,” Garrett said, almost sounding guilty by the fact.

            “What club?” Zayn asked. “Liam’s club?”

            “Yeah.”

            “What did you do?” Zayn sighed, rubbing a hand across his forehead and wondering why Liam hadn’t said anything to him the previous night.

            “I didn’t do anything!” Garrett spat, and then cleared his throat, calming his tone. “I don’t think he even knew I was there.”

            “So you were spying on him,” Zayn said. “Aces.”

            “I wasn’t spying on him! Daniel wanted to go to the club. We weren’t there for Rom-Liam.”

            “Okay, then may I please ask you to get to the point of this story then?” Zayn prodded, keeping his own tone as pleasant as was possible.

            “I’m just worried about you, Z.”

            “Why...?”

            “I really don’t want what happened to you before-what I did to you-to happen again.”

            “Do you have any valid reason to believe it would?”

            “I don’t know. He just seemed really…intimate…with a couple of the patrons.”

            “Well, yes, Garrett. He is a stripper. He works for tips, and the more he leads people to believe they have a chance with him, the higher they tip. I know this already. I have accepted it, and I trust Liam.”

            “It wasn’t only the patrons, though.”

            “What?”

            Zayn’s heart was hammering, and he wanted to tell himself that it was simply out of anger and disgust for his ex-husband; that he wasn’t scared that he was onto something, but, while he did trust Liam, for the most part, Zayn still wouldn’t swear on his life that he wouldn’t be somewhat like Garrett.

            “He was kind of all over that bartender too; the Irish one that’s there a lot and laughs really loud.”

            “Niall,” Zayn said.

            “Yeah, I guess.”

            “Niall is dating someone,” Zayn told him.

            “So is Liam. Look, it might be nothing and I’m not trying to hurt you. I just know that you like to see the best in people and you give your whole heart when you love someone, so I just want to be a potential voice of reason.”

            “I’ve got it, Garrett, thanks,” Zayn said, his voice much weaker than he cared to acknowledge.

            “Alright,” Garrett said, sighing then himself. Zayn wondered if they’d sighed that much when they’d been together. The thought would have been at least slightly comical if Zayn was in a better mood.

            Garrett added, “I do still care about you, Z, you know that, right?”

            “Sure,” Zayn said. “Look, I’ve got to go.”

            “Yeah, I figured.”

            “I’ll talk to you later. Tell Isa I love him.”

            Without waiting for a reply, Zayn disconnected the call and locked his phone.

            He was right; he’d lost his appetite.

 

            Zayn wasn’t going to the club to spy; honestly, he wasn’t. There was nothing unusual about going to the strip club that one’s boyfriend worked at and observing his method from a distance, just out of curiosity. It was innocent. Zayn would eventually go up and say hi.

            What Garrett had told Zayn earlier had unnerved him, naturally, but it was ultimately Liam’s behavior that day which had made Zayn the most uncomfortable.

            When two o’ clock rolled around and Zayn still hadn’t heard from his boyfriend, he sent him a text, reading,

            _Hey, gorgeous, how has your day been? =]_

Liam had replied quickly enough. It had only taken him about four minutes to respond with,

            _Hey, it’s fine! Yours?_

Zayn didn’t like that reply, though. It felt very short; almost like he was bothering Liam, so Zayn responded with a simple,

            _Pretty good._

 _Good! =]_ , Liam had said, and that had been that.

            To be fair, Zayn didn’t say anything after that reply, but he felt that doing so would simply annoy Liam further because, clearly, he _was_ annoyed.

            Zayn’s theory was further proven when Liam didn’t snap him a picture of his first outfit that night; something he’d done every day since the first time he’d done it. (Zayn always screen shot it and, so far, Liam hadn’t called him out on it; not that it would change anything if he did. Zayn had lost all shame.)

            _I don’t get a pic tonight? =[_ Zayn had sent via snapchat with a picture of himself pouting. The pout almost looked real, but it wasn’t…not really.

            It took a bit for Liam to reply, and when he did, it was with a picture, showcasing his costume choice, but for the first time, Zayn couldn’t really concentrate on that. He was more focused on the fact that Liam wasn’t smiling in the picture, like usual. Zayn supposed that he wasn’t frowning either, but still; something was off.

            _Hot_ , Zayn said, using a picture of the book he’d just started on that day, and Liam opened his message, but didn’t reply.

            So, yeah, it was really Liam’s fault that Zayn was going to spy on him that night.

            _Not spy, just observe,_ Zayn reminded himself.

 

            It must have been fate that Zayn was supposed to be there that night, because Colt wasn’t the one working the counter. Zayn had never seen the guy that was working it before, and the guy had never seen him, which was completely fine. Though that meant that Zayn had to pay for admittance, it also meant that no one could prematurely mention to Liam that he was there.

            Liam was onstage when Zayn arrived and Zayn sat in the distance, watching him dance and almost forgetting why he was there. Though Liam didn’t do any crazy dance technique, Zayn loved the way he moved, as did several other men, and Liam worked what he could do (namely, shake his hips, spin on the pole and touch himself) very well. He knew how to turn his face into an expression that was equal parts confident, seductive and mysterious. It was no wonder that the men flocked to him, throwing money at him quicker than Liam could keep up, though he did his best to make sure every tipper got a chance to touch him, sometimes for longer than Zayn thought necessary.

            He swallowed, blinking against the burning in his eyes. The strip club was not the place to cry.

            Panic started to hit Zayn when Liam left the stage. He knew how these things worked; he would come out to roam the floor for a bit, looking for people willing to pay for a lap dance or even for Liam to sit there and listen to them talk while they touched his thighs and biceps. Zayn would say hi to his boyfriend eventually, but he wasn’t ready yet, and so he sat as far away from the bar as he could, having a feeling that was where Liam liked to look for his tippers.

            He kept the bar in sight, though; and Niall.

            Zayn gave himself props for knowing his boyfriend what he thought was quite well when Liam came out from a door behind the bar and went around the back, touching Niall on the shoulder blade before opening the mini fridge and pulling out a water bottle for himself. There was nothing inherently sexual about the touch…But, actually, what if there was?

            It didn’t take long for some bloke who Zayn estimated to be a bit past forty to approach the bar, motioning Liam over with his index finger. Putting on the same smile he wore onstage, Liam walked closer to the man, making sure to sway his hips as he did so. The stranger whispered something in his ear, Liam laughed and said something in reply, shaking his head as he spoke, but, ultimately, he ended up following the man to the ‘lap dance’ room.

            Zayn felt sick, and decided that he couldn’t take it anymore.

            “Hey, Niall!” he called, throwing himself down into a bar stool with so much force that the bartender raised an eyebrow.

            “Hey, Zayn,” he said. “What’s up?”

            “Can I have a drink, please?” Zayn asked.

            “Of course,” Niall replied. “Fireball?”

            “Something stronger; the strongest. I don’t care, just make it strong.”

            Niall’s eyebrow continued to rise further into his hairline as he began grabbing alcohol bottles, seemingly from memory, as he never took his eyes from Zayn’s face.

            “You all good, mate?” he asked.

            “Yes, I’m fine,” Zayn answered.

            “If you insist…”

            Niall mixed up Zayn’s drink and slid it to him, denying his attempts to pay.

            “First one’s always on the house for friends,” Niall insisted, and Zayn didn’t have the energy to argue. Forgoing the straw that was in his drink, he began chugging the beverage, which he quickly found to be a mistake because Niall had obeyed orders well when Zayn had asked for something strong. Zayn’s head spun and his stomach turned a bit as he got halfway down his glass, but he blinked a few times and took a few deep breaths, pulling himself together.

            Niall was practically gaping at him. Zayn smiled.

            “Hello,” he said.

            “Hi,” Niall replied.

            Other than those few words, the two remained silent until Liam returned a few minutes later. He plopped onto the seat next to Zayn, who was on his second drink; the dancer holding a smile on his face, though something about Zayn’s expression quickly took the grin away.

            “What’s wrong?” Liam asked.

            “Nothing,” Zayn insisted. “Just missed you, babe.”

            Zayn leaned forward, going in for a kiss, but Liam backed up, putting a finger to Zayn’s lips.

            “Not on the job, sweetheart,” he said.

            “Oh, yeah,” Zayn said, feeling ashamed, disappointed and, for some reason, a little hurt as well. “Sorry.”

            “It’s okay,” Liam said, squeezing his shoulder.

            “I come see you at work too much, don’t I?” Zayn asked.

            “Not at all,” Liam assured him. “I love seeing you.”

            “But I distract you.”

            “It’s fine, I promise.”

            Zayn sniffed, finished off his second drink and then told Niall that he was ready for his regular fireball shot.

            “After this, maybe slow it down just a bit?” Niall suggested. “If you keep up at this pace, I’m going to have to take your car keys.”

            Zayn laughed somewhat manically, if he was being honest with himself, and then smiled innocently at Liam. He didn’t feel the smile, and perhaps Liam knew that because he continued to frown and stare at Zayn like he was on the verge of a mental break.

            After Zayn had taken his shot, another stranger approached, tapping Liam on the shoulder.

            “Am I interrupting?” the newcomer asked, and Liam opened his mouth to reply, but Zayn took it upon himself to do that for him.

            “Not at all!” he exclaimed, his voice nearly an octave higher than normal as he jumped off his seat and fell sideways into the bar. “Ouch. I’m okay. He’s all yours, mate!”

            Zayn didn’t mean the words to be hurtful, but the way Liam shrunk back and pulled his eyebrows together hinted that he may have hurt his feelings anyway. It wasn’t like Zayn could make it better while he was with a client though, so with a hearty wave, Zayn sauntered off to the stage, where he pretended to watch the other dancers. He soon felt weird because he found it rude to sit there and not tip, but he found it wrong to tip someone who wasn’t his boyfriend, so after a couple of songs had passed, Zayn looked back to the bar, saw that Liam and the stranger were no longer there, and went back.

            “Tequila shot, Niall?” he requested.

            “Are you sure?” Niall asked. “You’re mixing a bunch of different alcohols right now, mate.”

            “Yes, I’m sure,” Zayn said, and he could tell that the Irishman really did not want to fulfill his order, but, for whatever reason, he did anyway.

            In his drunken state, Zayn couldn’t tell how much time had passed until Liam returned, but he soon felt a hand squeeze the back of his neck gently and then saw Liam sit in the seat he’d abandoned next to him before.

            “Glad you’re still here,” Liam said, and Zayn did his best to smile.

            “Hey, Romeo, do you mind taking over the bar for just a sec?” Niall asked. “I really have to take a piss.”

            “Oh, yeah, sure, mate,” Liam replied, rising to his feet quickly before going around the bar. He checked on the patrons sitting on the side of the bar away from Zayn, made one of them a drink and then returned to his boyfriend, leaning his front against the counter and ducking his head until Zayn was forced to look in his eyes.

            “What’s going on?” Liam asked, his voice soft, yet demanding as well.

            “I don’t like you working here,” Zayn blurted, even though that hadn’t been his plan at all. He hadn’t actually had a plan, and he supposed that was where he had gone wrong.

            For a second, Liam’s eyes widened, but then he let out a low breath, resting his cheek on his hand before saying, quietly,

            “I know, love. I don’t either, but it’s only temporary.”

            “I don’t like when they touch you.”

            “I’m sorry.”

            “Do you ever want to fuck any of them?”

            That question made Liam noticeably startle, and he straightened his posture, a shocked look on his face.

            “No…,” he said. “You’re the only man I want to fuck, thanks…”

            “You don’t even want to fuck Niall?”

            “What the hell?” Liam whispered, watching as the two other patrons at the bar took their drinks and headed back to the stage. When he spoke again, his voice was at a normal volume. “Where is all of this coming from?”

            Zayn knew that he should shut up, but he also knew that, at this point, he would be forced to say something, and he was not in the right frame of mind to come up with a lie.

            “Garrett was here last night and said you were all over Niall.”

            Liam stared at Zayn for an uncomfortable amount of time, his expression blank, before he sighed.

            “Of course he did,” he said. “You believed him?”

            “I don’t know…”

            “Not trying to sound harsh, Zayn, but why the fuck would you believe a man that cheated on you when he says that your new boyfriend is potentially cheating on you?”

            “Well, I mean, a cheater knows what a cheater looks like, so…”

            Again, Zayn hadn’t meant to hurt Liam. He’d simply been trying to explain himself, but suddenly, Liam’s eyes got shiny and his nose twitched.

            “I’m not a cheater,” he said, his voice soft.

            “Probably not,” Zayn agreed. “But, like, how do I _know_?”

            “Trust…? I’m not Garrett, Zayn.”

            “I know you’re not, but he’s not the only man that cheats in this world.”

            “I’m not cheating on you, and I don’t want to!”

            Liam’s voice was shrill, but his eyes darted somewhere behind Zayn as he sniffled yet again. Zayn turned just in time to see Niall quickly doing a three-sixty and walking away, apparently deciding that they needed privacy.

            “I want to believe you,” Zayn said, looking back to Liam.

            “Then believe me! I don’t know how to convince you that I’m not going to have an affair with anyone else, and I love you, babe, but I’m not letting you track my phone or anything crazy like that.”

            “I don’t want to do that!” Zayn exclaimed, suddenly becoming offended himself. “Shit, Li, I’m not crazy!”

            “Well, you’re kind of acting like it right now!”

            Dramatically, Zayn’s mouth fell open and he stared at Liam, who had the expression of a deer caught in the headlights, for a while.

            “You’re an arse!” Zayn finally exclaimed, quite a bit louder than he’d meant to. Liam shook his head, backing away from the front of the bar to fill a cup of water, which he then placed in front of Zayn.

            “Drink this,” he said.

            “Don’t tell me what to do!”

            “Fine, don’t drink it, but I can’t talk to you when you’re like this!” Liam said, and Zayn couldn’t be positive, what with his blurry vision and all, but he thought he saw a tear slide down Liam’s cheek before he turned and came out from behind the bar. At the same time, Niall approached, looking worried.

            “Call Zayn a cab when he’s ready to go home, please,” Liam said before quickly vanishing in a mass of bodies in the near distance.

            “He doesn’t understand,” Zayn told Niall.

            “I think there’s mutual misunderstanding, to be fair,” Niall told him.  Zayn glared.

            “Fireball shot?” he asked.

            “How about I get you home?”

            “I don’t want to take a cab. I will walk.”

            “I’ll drive you, Zayn,” Niall told him calmly. “One of the others can take over the bar for a few minutes. Do you want your water or not?”

            Zayn was quite thirsty, but pride prevented him from drinking the water, so with a shake of his head, he got down from his barstool. He followed Niall while he found one of the strippers and asked him to take over the bar, and then walked behind him to his car, falling into the passenger seat and buckling his seatbelt correctly on only the fourth attempt.

            The beginning of the ride was silent except for Zayn giving directions to his place. Finally, Niall sighed.

            “I don’t know exactly what happened,” he began, “but from what I heard and from what I know about your past, I feel like I have a good idea, and I promise you, Zayn, that Liam is a good guy.”

            “I know,” Zayn said, his voice cracking as his eyes began to burn again.

            “Can I tell you something?”

            “What?”

            “There was this guy, right? He came in a lot when Liam first started at the club, and Liam thought he was gorgeous-”

            “Hold on, why are you telling me this when I clearly have jealousy issues?”

            “Just let me finish, okay?”

            After debating it for a moment, Zayn nodded and then, realizing that Niall was concentrated on the world outside of his window and probably didn’t see him, said,

            “Sure.”

            “Anyway, this guy would flirt with Liam all the time, but in a respectful way. He was a good guy and it was obvious they liked each other, but he was in the army-”

            “So Liam likes buff blokes,” Zayn stated, looking down at his puny arms.

            “Zayn.”

            “Sorry. Go on.”

            “Anyway…the army guy was relocated a little over a month after they met. That was the last we saw of him until just last night, when he showed up at the club. He said he’d moved back and that he’d wasted enough of his life doing things that don’t make him happy, so he invited Liam to dinner, and do you know what Liam told him?”

            “No, I do not.”

            “You don’t?”

            “…Did he tell him no?”

            “Correct. Actually, he said; and I quote, a bit loosely because I don’t hang onto Liam’s every word, but it was something along the lines of, ‘Thanks, but I actually have a really great boyfriend right now,’ and when the lad told him that he hoped he was happy, Liam told him that he’d never been happier.”

            “You’re lying,” Zayn said.

            “No, I’m not,” Niall insisted.

            “I know,” the teacher told him, and he did know, deep down. “Fuck. Shit. I’m so dumb.”

            “You’re not dumb. You’ve been hurt, and pain causes people to do foolish things sometimes, but you’re not dumb.”

            “No, I am. I’m so, so dumb. I really fucked up. I’m going to be sick.”

            “It will be fine. Liam is upset right now, but he loves you so much…Honestly, it’s almost disgusting how much…And if you talk to him tomorrow, sober, everything will be fine.”

            “I really hope so, but I was being serious, Niall. I’m going to need you to pull over.”

 

            When Zayn got home, he went right to his bed and collapsed down onto the mattress, not even bothering to take off his shoes. He wasn’t sure when he’d started actively crying, but he hoped it had been after he’d exited Niall’s car. It probably hadn’t been.

            Getting out his phone, Zayn managed to send what he thought was a comprehensible message to Liam.

            _I’m sorry =[ Let me know when you’re home, please,_ is what Zayn had meant for it to say.

            Liam didn’t reply until much later, the ding of Zayn’s phone pulling him from sleep. With blurred vision, he made out,

            _Home. Talk tomorrow?_

 _Yes,_ Zayn replied, with the help of auto-correct, before laying his dizzy head down and longing for sleep, but not getting any again for a couple of hours. He wanted to believe Niall that Liam would be forgiving, but even if he forgave him, that wouldn’t mean that he wanted to be with him still. Zayn had more insecurities than the average person, and, clearly, unstable emotions. He really didn’t have much going for him and so he thought, if he was Liam, then he wouldn’t have wanted him either.

           

           

           

           


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was supposed to be posted a few days ago, but I never had time to edit. Sorry about that!

            Zayn sat straight up, woken immediately by the sound of his phone ringing. His head spun from the movement, but Zayn knew that was from dehydration. Other than a mild headache and a dry mouth, he felt fine, as he’d gotten rid of all the alcohol in his system on the way home the previous night.

            For some reason, Zayn’s only half conscious mind assumed it was Liam calling him, so, naturally, disappointment hit hard when he saw Garrett’s name shining up at him instead, and maybe he did feel just a little sick after all.

            “‘Lo?” he answered, his voice groggy. He was met with silence for a moment before Garrett asked, condescendingly, of course,

            “Are you still sleeping?”

            “Not now,” Zayn snapped, rubbing his eyes. “What time’s it?”

            “Just after ten,” the other man answered.

            “That’s not that late,” Zayn reasoned, and then sighed, almost smiling once he realized he’d done so. He couldn’t smile, though, because he was talking to Garrett, not Liam, and he had been a proper dick to Liam the previous night, meaning he may never talk to the man again after that day when Liam more than likely ended things.

            “You sound awful,” Garrett said.

            “Thanks,” Zayn told him sarcastically. “I’m fine. What’s up?”

            “Well, today is your day with Isa-”

            “Yes, I know, but we typically don’t trade him off until noon or so.”

            “I wasn’t finished.”

            Zayn bit his tongue so he wouldn’t make a comment back, even though Garrett waited for one. Once his ex-husband realized that he wasn’t going to get another snarky remark, he continued, his voice sweeter.

            “I just wanted to suggest that we go get lunch-all three of us-before you take Isa.”

            _Why would I want to do that?_ Zayn nearly answered, but instead, settled on,

            “Actually, I have a couple of things to do before I get Isa. It may be a little bit later than normal when I get there, so if you want to feed him lunch first, then go for it. I’ll let you know when I’m on my way.”

            “Wait, what do you have to do?”

            “Do you really need to know?”

            “Since it’s more important than coming to pick up your son, then I have a right to know.”

            At those words, Zayn’s eye literally twitched, and a feeling of what could only be described as rage went through his entire body, but he quickly managed to calm himself.

            “Never mind, you arse,” he said. “I thought you would appreciate an extra hour or so with your son, but since it’s apparently a hindrance, I’ll be there to get him soon.”

            “It’s not a hindrance. That’s not what I meant.”

            “Oh? I thought we were putting words in each others’ mouths? No?”

            “You’re such a child!” Garrett exclaimed, and Zayn just knew the angry red shade his face had to be right about then. Soon, his forehead vein would probably be visible. “I don’t know how I ever married you.”

            “Trust me, sometimes I wish you hadn’t,” Zayn said. “See you at noon.”

            “I thought you were going to be later?”

            “Nope. See you at noon. I’ve got to go. Bye.”

            Zayn ended the call before Garrett would respond, which the other man would probably consider another one of his childish moves, but Zayn  found necessary so that neither would end up saying something they would really regret.

            After hanging up with Garrett, Zayn used the toilet and downed half a glass of water, and then, his heart pounding and his hands shaking, he called Liam.

            “Hello?” Liam answered, and he didn’t sound particularly angry, but he didn’t really sound like he was feeling much of anything for Zayn, which was worse.

            “Hey,” Zayn said. “Um…I’m still sorry.”

            “Yeah, I know,” Liam said. “Me too.”

            “You too? What do you mean by that?”

            “…I mean that I’m sorry too,” Liam said, sounding confused by Zayn’s question.

            “Why would you be sorry?”

            “I could have handled the situation better.”

            “No, you were right. I was being crazy, but…Um…Would you like to talk in person? If not, the phone is fine.”

            Zayn shifted his mobile to the other ear, if for no other reason than he had to keep every body part moving, anxiety quickly trying to overtake him.

            “Yeah, in person sounds good,” Liam said. “My mum has Zoey for lunch. Do you want to come over? Or I can go over there. How do you feel?”

            “I feel fine,” Zayn assured him. “I don’t care who goes where, but I do have to get Isa at noon and I haven’t even showered yet or anything.”

            “I can head over while you shower,” Liam volunteered. “You haven’t eaten yet then? I can bring you something.”

            Zayn didn’t say anything right away, his brows pulled together in confusion.

            “Zayn?” Liam prompted after a few moments.

            “Yeah, I’m here,” Zayn said.

            “Do you want food?” Liam questioned.

            “Why would you bring me food…?” Zayn asked his own question, making his confusion over the situation very well known.

            “Because I figured you might be hungry…?” Liam replied in the same tone of voice.

            “Yeah, but, like, you’re breaking up with me, right? Why would you bring someone food if you’re just going to break up with them?”

            “Who ever said I was breaking up with you?” Liam asked, sounding equal parts amused and appalled, which was an interesting combination, but Zayn was sure that was what it was.

            “I just figured…Never mind.”

            “Babe, I love you, but you need to stop jumping to conclusions, especially without valid evidence. Now, food; yes or no?”

            “You don’t have to,” Zayn said, and he knew he should reply to Liam’s love declaration as well, but under the current circumstances, Zayn’s mind couldn’t accept that he’d really said those words.

            Liam sighed, but Zayn couldn’t be too highly offended by it when he let out a laugh right after.

            “Are you hungry or not?”

            “Yes.”

            “Okay, then I will bring you food. What do you want?”

            “Surprise me.”

            “Oh no, this feels like a test.”

            “It is,” Zayn teased, surprised to find that there was a small smile on his face.

            “Will you at least tell me if you want breakfast food or lunch food?”

            “Lunch.”

            “Okay, I can work with that. I’ll see you soon.”

            “I’ll probably be out of the shower when you get here, but just in case, I’ll leave the door unlocked for you.”

            “Alright. Be there as quick as I can.”

            “Bye.”

            Zayn’s mind was racing while he was in the shower; fear, confusion and hope all swirling around in his brain. His conversation with Liam hadn’t gone anything like he’d expected it to. Liam should be mad at him; telling him what a crazy, awful person he was and how he regretted the time he wasted with him. He shouldn’t have taken up Zayn’s offer to talk in person; shouldn’t ever want to see his face again, but the fact that he had, was what made Zayn hopeful. Liam was an amazing person, he’d known that, so maybe he had been able to forgive Zayn, or at least soon could.

.           Or maybe he just wanted to break up in person, but, since he was a good man, wanted to do it nicely, after feeding Zayn and letting him see his wonderful face one more time. Zayn tried to tell himself that Liam wouldn’t have told him he loved him if that was the case, but the more he thought about it, the less convinced Zayn was that Liam had really told him he loved him at all.

            Zayn didn’t typically take too long in the shower, but since he’d spent a great deal of time simply staring at the water as it washed down the drain and letting his mind come up with the best and worst possible outcomes of his and Liam’s arriving conversation, he wasn’t sure how long he stayed in there that day. The water didn’t turn cold, but it most certainly wasn’t hot anymore when he stepped out.

            As Zayn toweled himself off, he heard his front door open. Assuming it was Liam and not some random intruder, Zayn shouted that he’d be out in a minute. Luckily, it was Liam’s voice that shouted out ‘okay.’

            The outfit Zayn had blindly grabbed wasn’t great-just a pair of old blue jeans and a band t-shirt, and his soaking wet hair was far more unattractive than if it had been dried and styled, but Zayn figured that, by this time, Liam would have already made up his mind whether he was going to leave or not, and no matter how good he looked, he wouldn’t be able to get him to stay if he didn’t want to.

            After exiting the bathroom, Zayn found Liam in the kitchen, sitting at the table with a bag from a nearby taco joint placed in the middle. The dancer offered a small smile and Zayn tried to return it, but ended up having to swallow against his nerves instead.

            “Hey,” Liam said.

            “Hey,” Zayn greeted, taking the seat across from Liam and pulling his food bag closer to him, but not opening it yet, even though the smell had his stomach growling like he hadn’t eaten in days. “Thanks for the food.”

            “Did I pass the test?” Liam asked, sitting back in the chair and crossing his arms, but his tiny grin not yet leaving his face.

            “Yes. This place is delicious,” Zayn told him.

            “I brought you Gatorade too. Hopefully you like the purple kind.”

            “I do,” Zayn said, noting the beverage by him. “Thank you.”

            “You’re welcome.”

            A moment of silence passed, the two staring each other down, and then Liam nodded to the bag, the man sitting up straighter and un-crossing his arms.

            “Are you going to eat?”

            “I’m too nervous,” Zayn admitted in a mumble. Unfortunately, Liam still heard him, so he didn’t have time to think of a better answer to his question.

            “Why are you nervous?”

            “I don’t want to eat if you’re going to break up with me afterward.”

            “Zayn, I told you I’m not breaking up with you,” Liam said, no longer smiling, but he still didn’t appear angry; more like sad. Zayn didn’t know which would have been better. “Why don’t you trust me?”

            “I don’t know,” Zayn sighed, and then quickly amended, “I mean, it’s not that I don’t trust you, I’m just scared that once I do fully allow myself to be comfortable with you…with us…that everything will fall apart.”

            “No couple is going to be perfect all of the time,” Liam reasoned, “but unless it’s something particularly awful, my response isn’t going to be to break up with you, and it will never, under any circumstances, be to cheat.”

            Zayn nodded, rubbing his hands together. He wanted to believe Liam, and most of him did, but, of course, he still had his doubts and insecurities.

            When it was clear that Zayn didn’t know how to reply, Liam continued.

            “Did I do anything to set you off last night?”

            “No,” Zayn answered right away, but Liam gave him a look that hinted he didn’t believe him much.

            “Please tell me the truth.”

            “You didn’t. I mean, I thought you did, but it’s stupid…which I guess won’t be any different than how I was acting last night, so fine.’

            ‘It’s just that you hadn’t texted me by yesterday afternoon-which is fine because, obviously, I can text you first too-but it seemed to me, then, that your replies were really short; like you didn’t want to talk to me. Then you didn’t send me a picture of your outfit, and I know you don’t owe that to me or whatever, but you had every single day before then, so all of that piled on the shit that Garrett told me made me paranoid, I guess.”

            “My texts seemed short?” Liam asked, his forehead creased in worry.

            “Yeah, but I’m sure they weren’t. It was probably me being crazy.”

            “No, hey, stop. I’m sorry I called you crazy last night. I can see where you’re coming from now. I probably wasn’t acting like myself yesterday because, honestly, it wasn’t a great day.”

            “What happened?” Zayn asked, a new kind of worry settling in him. “I mean, other than me freaking out on you.”

            “Stop,” Liam said again, gently, as he quickly touched Zayn’s hand before folding his own together. “Nothing happened. I just had a really bad headache and had felt a bit sick all day, and then Zoey cried when I had to leave her to go work, so I was a tad moody.”

            “Why didn’t you tell me that you didn’t feel good?” Zayn asked. Liam shrugged.

            “You know I don’t like to admit that.”

            “Yes, I do know that,” Zayn replied with a roll of his eyes, though the corners of his mouth had quirked up ever so slightly. “I wish I knew why. When I’m sick, everybody knows it and, sometimes, I even begin to plan my funeral.”

            Liam laughed, shaking his head once before he unfolded his hands to rest a cheek on his fist.

            “It’s weird for me to be taken care of, or whatever,” he said.

            “I can respect that,” Zayn said, “but just know that I wouldn’t mind ever taking care of you, or even just helping out a little. In the least, I won’t throw a fit at your place of employment when you don’t text me novels if I know you’re not feeling well.”

            Liam laughed through his nose, his eyes sparkling for just a moment.

            “We are terrible at communicating,” he commented.

            “We are,” Zayn agreed. “Let’s work on that, okay?”

            “Agreed.”

            “How are you feeling now, by the way?” Zayn asked. “Still have a headache?”

            “No, not right now,” Liam assured him. “I took something for it when I woke up.”

            “Okay, but if it comes back, you’re going to tell me, right?”

            “Uh-huh. Sure.”

            Zayn narrowed his eyes and Liam gave another laugh.

            “I will mention it and then take something for it again.”

            “And then if it’s still here tomorrow, you’ll let me take you to the doctor.”

            “Now that’s pushing it.”

            “We’ll talk about it if the time comes,” Zayn decided.

            “Deal,” Liam said. “How are you feeling though, really?”

            “Hungry,” Zayn said, finally opening his food bag and taking out his first taco. “Whoa, Li, you realize that I was drunk, not stoned?” he asked as he noted the second taco, nachos, enchilada and burrito that were also in the bag.

            “I didn’t know what you wanted, or how low your blood sugar was,” he said. “I mean, Niall said you puked all in his car, so I figured there’s probably nothing in your system.”

            “Excuse you, I puked _on_ his car, not in it. Just a bit got on the outside of his car door and I cleaned it off, thanks.”

            Liam grinned, sitting up straight again as he looked at Zayn in what Zayn would almost say was adoration. Whatever it was, it made his cheeks burn and he quickly took a drink of his Gatorade before beginning on his taco. After he’d swallowed a few bites, he spoke again.

            “Does Zoey cry a lot when you have to go to work?”

            “Not a lot,” Liam said. “She was being really clingy yesterday, for some reason. She got over it, I guess, because she was fine going with my mum to lunch today.”

            “May Isa and I treat you and Zoey to dinner?” Zayn questioned, and, finally, a full-fledged smile took place on Liam’s face.

            “You may,” he said. “I’m supposed to work, but I think I might call in sick.”

            Zayn took that as a golden opportunity to pretend-choke on his food.

            “ _You’re_ going to tell somebody you’re sick?!” he asked, clutching his chest. Pursing his lips together, only so he wouldn’t smile again, Liam took a napkin from Zayn’s bag and balled it up, throwing it at the man afterward.

            “If you’re going to put it that way, I’ll just skip dinner and go into work.”

            “Please don’t,” Zayn said.

            “Okay,” Liam agreed. “I won’t.”

 

            After Zayn finished eating the taco and burrito, he put the rest of the food in the refrigerator and spent the next few minutes before he left to get Isa cuddling with Liam on the couch. They didn’t turn the television on and they didn’t speak. It was simply Zayn leaned into Liam, who had an arm wrapped around his shoulders, stroking Zayn’s bicep with his thumb and, every now and then, placing a kiss on the top of his head.

            Liam went along with Zayn when it was time to get Isa, and agreed to Zayn’s request to come in. Zayn was seeing Liam now, as Garrett was seeing someone else as well, and if they were going to make Isa’s life as easy as possible, Zayn thought they should start working on breaking the tension immediately.

            “Oh, is he what you were busy doing?” Garrett asked as soon as the two entered.

            “You don’t have to be rude, Garrett,” Zayn said calmly, and then smiled as the pitter-patter of small feet could be heard running.

            “Baba! Liam!” Isa exclaimed as he rounded the corner to the entryway, giving Zayn a hug and then his father’s boyfriend.

            “Hey, buddy,” Liam said, patting him on the back before Isa broke away and went back to Zayn.

            “Baba, can I bring my new stuffed lion to your flat?”

            “Sure!” Zayn agreed. “What’s your lion’s name?”

            “Roar.”

            “That’s a great name!”  

            “I’m going to go get him!”

            “Okay, I’ll wait.”

            Isa ran up the stairs and Zayn watched him go, a smile on his face, until he was out of sight. Then, his eyes inadvertently traveled to Garrett, who was staring at him.

            “What are you going to do with him the next few days?” Garrett asked.

            “I don’t know,” Zayn said. “We’re going to dinner tonight, but other than that, I guess we’ll see.”

            “He’s a child, Z. His brain needs to be stimulated, and that doesn’t mean set in front of the television with junk food.”

            “I know. I’m a teacher,” Zayn reminded the man, “and you know that isn’t what I do with him when I have him.”

            “I found him!” Isa exclaimed from upstairs, and then began his travel down with Roar. “Look, daddy!”

            “He’s very handsome,” Zayn said. “Are you ready to go?”

            “Can I have some water first? I’m thirsty.”

            “Sure,” Zayn said. “I’ll get you some water. Can Liam hold Roar while you drink?”

            “Okay,” Isa agreed, handing his animal to Liam, who pet the object and said hello to it.

            “Come on,” Zayn said, taking one of Isa’s hands and walking to the kitchen. Garrett followed, and Zayn felt bad for having Liam come in, thinking of how awkward it must have been for him to be standing there by the door, alone. He would make it up to him later, he decided.

            Naturally, since Garrett was the epitome of Zayn’s misfortune in life, Zayn dropped the cup of water he’d filled halfway for his son as he handed it to the child, getting water all over himself, the toddler and the floor.

            “Jesus!” Garrett exclaimed while Isa laughed like Zayn’s clumsiness was the funniest thing ever. To be fair, it probably was, to him. “I swear, Zayn, you ruin more things than our child!”

            “It’s just water,” Liam said, taking it upon himself to enter the kitchen and not looking like he cared at all that Garrett hadn’t invited him.

            “I’m all wet!” Isa said, laughing so hard that the child had to cover his face.

            “Sorry,” Zayn apologized, speaking to both of them and smiling because of Isa’s reaction but also kind of wanting to cry because of Garrett’s. Of course, he managed to hold himself together as he retrieved a handful of paper towels and used them to soak the water from the floor.

            “It’s okay, baba,” Isa assured the man as Garrett sighed, telling Zayn he would ‘clean up his mess’ and then ordering Isa to go change.

            “He’s not that wet,” Zayn reasoned.  

            “So you want him to just sit there with his clothes like that?” Garrett asked. Zayn fought to roll his eyes.

            “Alright, Isa; go change and I’ll get you more water-”

            “ _I’ll_ get you more water,” Garrett interrupted.

            “-so then we can leave.”

            “Okay!” Isa said, bouncing away (and stopping to pet Roar as he went.)

            “Do you need help?” Zayn called after the child.

            “No!” Isa insisted from the distance, and so, for the moment, Zayn chose to believe him.

            Garrett sighed as he finished mopping up the floor and sighed again as he threw the paper towels away. As the older man began filling up another cup for Isa, Zayn went to stand by Liam, who puckered his lips before making Roar lick Zayn’s arm. Zayn laughed, probably more touched by the gesture than he should have been.

            “Baba!” Isa called from upstairs a moment later.

            “Yes?” Zayn called back.

            “I need help!”

            Huffing out a laugh, Zayn told Liam he would be right back, gave him his car keys and said that if he wanted to, he could go wait in the car, as it would only take another couple of minutes.

            “What do you need help with, Isa?” Zayn asked as he entered his son’s room, observing all of the clothes that had been carelessly thrown on the floor and thinking of how Garrett would probably have a panic attack when he saw.

            It was Zayn’s genes that Isa had, after all.

            “I can’t find my shirt,” Isa said.

            “I see a lot of shirts,” Zayn told him.

            “But I want the brown one with the green dinosaur!”

            “Okay, let me see.”

            Zayn rummaged, as neatly as he could, through Isa’s drawers, but didn’t see the shirt his son was asking for anywhere.

            “It must be dirty, kid,” Zayn said. “How about we find a different shirt for you to wear?”

            “Can you go ask daddy?” Isa replied instead.

            “You don’t just want to wear another shirt?”

            “No.”

            Zayn wanted to more heavily enforce that Isa simply wear a different shirt so that they could get out of there, but he wasn’t going to be the one to crush Isa’s developing fashion sense or independence, so Zayn told him that he would go see if his dinosaur shirt was in the clean laundry and headed back downstairs.

            Once at the bottom of the steps, not close enough to be seen by Garrett or Liam, but close enough to hear when Garrett asked, “Do you want to say something to me, Romeo?”, Zayn paused. He knew he should probably be doing the opposite. He should run into the kitchen and defend Liam with everything he had, and he would, if it came to that, but for the moment, he hesitated.

            “My name is Liam,” Zayn’s boyfriend spoke calmly, “and yes, actually, there is something I want to say to you.”

            Garrett clearly hadn’t been expecting that response because there was a noticeable pause before he replied, and his voice didn’t sound nearly as confident as it had only moments ago, once he did choose to speak again.

            “And what would you like to say?” he asked. Zayn knew he was trying to sound cold and intimidating, but his shock and, perhaps even fear, had him sounding far sweeter than intended.

            “You shouldn’t talk to Zayn like that,” Liam said.

            “How do I talk to Zayn?” Garrett asked, causing Zayn to roll his eyes. Naturally, Garrett was not the most pleasant of people to communicate with, but it was obvious that, most of the time, he knew exactly what he was doing when he successfully pressed Zayn’s buttons.

            “You don’t need to be so harsh with him,” Liam continued. “Especially when Isa is around, you probably want to be nice to him, but you should really just try to be pleasant to him all the time. He deserves that, at least.”

            “I have no idea what you’re talking about,” Garrett claimed.

            “If you say so,” Liam said. “All I’m saying is that, if Isa sees you being mean to his other dad, it’s going to look bad on you, not Zayn, and he shouldn’t have to be torn. Besides that, it will probably just be a lot more pleasant for both of you if you try to be civil and not tear apart everything he says and does.”

            “I didn’t know you were a psychologist, Romeo,” Garrett said, the harshness back in his tone. “I was under the impression that you were a stripper.”

            “It’s Liam, and everything I’m saying is common sense,” Liam replied, his own voice still calm, “though I don’t know why I thought you would understand. Anyone with common sense wouldn’t have done anything to lose Zayn.”

            Suddenly, a warm feeling coursed through Zayn’s entire being and his face tingled as he smiled. He didn’t need to hear any more of the conversation, he decided. Those words were all he’d needed to hear, even if he hadn’t known it until that moment. Turning around, trying not to make a sound, Zayn went up a few stairs and then came back down, being a little louder than necessary so the others would know he was approaching.

            “Hey, Garrett, Isa wants to know if his brown shirt with the green dinosaur is clean,” he said. His ex-husband’s face was flushed, an angry and hurt expression on it, while Liam looked completely unaffected, smiling at Zayn as soon as he entered.

            “Uh…yeah, I think so,” Garrett said. “Hold on, I’ll check.”

            The man ventured off to the laundry room and Liam pulled Zayn in gently by the hips, kissing the side of his head.

            “I love you,” Zayn told him. At the words, Liam straightened, a softer look overtaking his face.

            “I love you,” he replied.

            Garrett found Isa’s dinosaur shirt fairly quickly, and after getting a quick sip of water, Isa told Zayn that he was ready to go.

            It was fairly quiet on the way home. Isa was talking to Roar, telling him all about the toys he had at his baba’s house, and Zayn had the radio playing softly, but the adults didn’t talk until they were about three minutes from the home.

            “I may have messed up,” Liam said, speaking too quietly to draw Isa’s attention.

            “How?” Zayn asked, fighting a smile, as he had a feeling he knew where his boyfriend was going with this.

            “I exchanged a few words with someone back at the other flat, and I, um, may have said too much.”

            “I heard,” Zayn admitted, because Liam sounded genuinely worried by the situation. “To me, you didn’t say too much. In fact, it was pretty hot.”

            “You heard?!”

            “Yep.”

            Liam was quiet, and Zayn could tell he was staring him down, so he offered a quick smile before looking back out his front window.

            “In a totally non-stripper way, you are my Romeo.”

            “Oh, hush,” Liam laughed, patting Zayn’s arm.

            “Seriously, though. That was hot.”

            “You know what I think is hot?”

            “What?”

            “Your beard.”

            “I completely forgot that I didn’t shave today…or yesterday…or the day before,” Zayn said, stroking his beard. “Isa hasn’t freaked out over it yet, so maybe I can keep it for a bit longer.”

            “You are gorgeous no matter what, but if the beard could stay for a bit, I would appreciate it.”

            “Maybe Isa will take a nap today,” Zayn said, not sure if Liam would get the implications behind the statement, but when the other man squeezed his thigh, he thought that he had.

 

            It wasn’t long after the three arrived at Zayn’s place that Karen dropped Zoey off, which was good for a multitude of reasons. Liam, of course, loved spending time with his daughter and vice versa. Isa greatly enjoyed when Zoey was over, and Zayn did as well, but Zayn was also fortunate that the girl was visiting because she and Isa tended to wear each other out, almost assuring that both would take a nap, and perhaps stay asleep a bit longer than normal.

            Sure enough, when it was nearing three in the afternoon, both children crashed in Isa’s bed, and the adults took that as an opportunity to go to Zayn’s room for some down time of their own.

            As promised, Zayn took everyone to dinner that night, and the men watched in adoration as their kids helped each other color the pictures on their menus; the two adults holding hands across the table the entire time, until the food came.

            For the next few days, they were all nearly inseparable. Zayn watched Zoey as Liam went to work on his second day with Isa, warmed once again by how natural and right it felt being together, almost like a family.

            During his shift, Liam texted Zayn almost constantly except for the times where he was onstage.

            _Babe, I love talking to you,_ Zayn told the other man after receiving a mildly pointless text of smiley faces, _but you don’t have to text me while you’re at work. I trust you._

Again, Liam sent Zayn a slew of smileys, but Zayn felt that those were far less pointless.

            Liam stayed over at Zayn’s after he got off work that night, securing himself a toothbrush at his boyfriend’s place, and, even though Zayn had been asleep when Liam returned, he woke just long enough to make love to Liam another time.

            On Zayn’s last day with Isa, the group went to Nicola’s boyfriend’s house and Liam gave Isa a swimming lesson. Since Nicola and her boyfriend were there, Zayn didn’t want a lesson for himself, but Liam assured him that the offer was always standing, should he want to take him up on it.

            Liam and Zayn didn’t have a sleepover that night, so it was only Zayn returning Isa to his other dad the next day, and he was quite excited when he discovered that he didn’t feel a single thing when Daniel opened the door and led Zayn into the living room where he and Garrett had been settled, and he snuggled close to his ex-husband, placing a firm kiss on his neck.

            “Hi, daddy,” Isa said, climbing up on the couch next to them. Zayn noted that he didn’t greet Daniel.

            “Hey, Isa,” Garrett said, bringing the kid in closer. Zayn decided not to comment when Garrett flipped the television to cartoons.

            “I’ll see you in a few days, Isa,” Zayn said, setting Roar, who Isa had placed him in charge of carrying, down on a nearby chair.

            “Okay, baba,” Isa said.

            “I love you,” Zayn told him.

            “Love you too.”

            “Hey, Zayn?” Garrett asked.

            “Yes?”

            “Nothing is for sure yet, but Daniel and I were thinking of going on vacation this Fall, so I was wondering if you would be able to watch Isa for a few extra days? It will probably be around September or October.”

            “Yeah, of course,” Zayn said and then, even though he hadn’t asked, Garrett said,

            “We were thinking of going to Greece.”

            “Greece?” Zayn repeated, raising an eyebrow and pretending a spark of anger didn’t threaten to go off inside of him. “Why would you want to go there?”

            Garrett stared at Zayn, opening and closing his mouth cluelessly because, again, the conversation hadn’t gone according to the script in his head. Feeling smug even as he was still fighting off anger, Zayn shrugged.

            “Oh, well, it’s none of my business. I would love to watch our son for a few extra days, though! Just let me know the details when you figure it out.”

 

 

            “…And I mentioned going to Greece on our honeymoon, but no, he said there was nothing he was interested in seeing or doing there and that it was a dumb idea!”

            “He’s a douche nugget,” Liam said with a nod, watching from his couch as his boyfriend paced back and forth, working out nervous energy. Zayn sighed.

            “I’m sorry.”

            “Why are you apologizing?” Liam asked.

            “I’m sure you’re tired of hearing me complain about my ex-husband. He honestly doesn’t mean anything to me anymore, but he just knows how to make me mad.”

            “Yeah, he does,” Liam agreed, “but don’t worry about it. I trust you.”

            Zayn smiled as his words were repeated back to him. Liam returned the grin.

            “I’ll take you to Greece one day,” he said. “It might not be anytime real soon, but some day.”

            “It’s probably over-rated anyway,” Zayn commented, finally sitting down next to his boyfriend and resting his head on his shoulder.

            From her bedroom, the men could hear Zoey singing to her dolls.

            “Well, we’ll go find out if it’s over-rated or not together,” Liam said.

            “I would like that,” Zayn told him. “You know where else we should go?”

            “Where?”

            “Disneyland, with the kids.”

            “That would be a lot of fun,” Liam agreed, placing a soft kiss on top of Zayn’s head. “We’ll plan on that as well.”

            “I like that we’re making plans,” Zayn said, a smile returning to his face even though Liam couldn’t easily see it.

            “Me, too,” the other agreed. “Oh, by the way, I know this is short notice, but my mum and dad’s anniversary party is the day after tomorrow and they told me to invite you. I would have done it before, but I didn’t think it would be something you would want to go to. If not, I can help you think of a good excuse, don’t worry.”

            “I would love to come,” Zayn assured his boyfriend. “How long will they have been married?”

            “Thirty-two years.”

            “Wow,” Zayn said. “Goals.”

            “It will happen for you, even if by some unfortunate circumstance, it’s not by me.”

            “Maybe.”

            “Can I tell you something?”

            “Please do.”

            “My mum was engaged before she and my dad met. She never actually married the bloke, but she was only days away from it, and from what I’ve heard, he sounds a lot like Garrett. He was very controlling and emotionally abusive-”

            “-Garrett wasn’t emotionally abusive.”

            “We can each have our opinion on that. Anyway, he was awful to her, and the only reason she didn’t marry him is because she caught him sleeping with her best friend, who was supposed to be her maid of honor, on the day of his bachelor party.”

            “That is awful.”

            “Yeah, she was pretty devastated, but then she met my dad. He accidentally rear-ended her at a stop sign.”

            Liam giggled, and Zayn did as well.

            “That’s fate,” the teacher said.

            “Have you noticed that, a lot of times, people meet the love of their life during the worst time of their lives? I was thinking that maybe that’s so we can know who is strong enough and who will care enough about us to help us through that.”

            “That’s a good thought,” Zayn said. “I like it.”

            “I’m glad I met you when I did,” Liam told him.

            “The timing couldn’t have been better,” Zayn agreed. Any earlier and he wouldn’t have been healed enough to form any type of relationship with anyone, but any later and he would have perhaps turned even more cynical. He and Liam still had a lot of growing to do, both as individuals and as a couple, but Zayn wasn’t so scared of it anymore. Time would pass and, as they somehow did, most things would fall into place. What didn’t fall into place, Zayn was sure they could tuck away somewhere and use as lessons and stepping stones for their future.


	11. Chapter 11

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm really sorry this is sooooo late! Without trying to get too personal and weird, there were a few family issues that were sucking away all of my energy and motivation. With that being said, I'm still a little scatter brained, so I hope this is good!

            “Baba!”

            Zayn looked up from the paper he was grading to see Isa running towards his desk, a big smile on his face. Zoey followed behind the boy, grinning and giggling, and Zayn stood to greet them, but barely had himself steadied when the children attached themselves to his legs. He had to grip the edge of his desk so he didn’t topple over, potentially onto one of the kids, and Liam audibly gasped from the doorway of Zayn’s classroom.

            “Easy, you two,” he warned gently, but Isa and Zoey just continued to giggle. Smiling, Zayn patted each on the head. Liam entered the room, placing a couple of bags filled with food onto a clear part of Zayn’s desk.

            “We can eat in the staff room,” Zayn told him, taking it upon himself to pick up the bags. “Come on Isa; Zoey, let’s go to a secret room!”

            “Secret room?” Zoey asked, her eyes lighting up with wonder.

            “Yes!” Zayn said, making sure his enthusiasm matched hers.

            “What’s in it?” Zoey asked.

            “Let’s go see!”

            “Are there unicorns?”

            “Sadly, I don’t think there will be anything nearly as exciting as unicorns.”

            Since Zayn’s hands were taken by the food, Liam held onto the childrens’ hands as they let  Zayn lead them to the staff room. It was nothing exciting, but since it had been labeled a ‘secret’ room, Isa and Zoey both gasped when they entered, looking around at everything.

            “This is so cool!” Isa said, running over to the large water jug in the corner. Zoey was much more interested in the big screen TV.

            “Hey, you two, let’s eat,” Liam said, sitting down in a chair that Zayn had pulled out for him at an empty table. The kids hesitated, not wanting to leave their findings, but eventually came over and sat in their own seats.

            “I’ve been wanting to try this place,” Zayn commented as Liam passed out sandwiches from the new ‘healthy’ sub place around the corner.

            “I know you have,” the other man said with a small smile. Zayn returned it before taking a bite. His break was only thirty minutes long, and nearly ten had already passed.

            “It’s good,” Zayn said, and Liam nodded, his mouth full of his own bite.

            “It is,” he agreed once he swallowed. Zayn took one more bite, waiting to see if Liam changed the subject or said anything at all. When he didn’t, Zayn cleared his throat.

            “So…?” he prodded.

            “So what?” Liam asked, smiling in a way that showed he knew exactly what Zayn was trying to get at.

            “How did the interview go?” he said, humoring his boyfriend anyway.

            “Oh, yeah, that,” Liam said. “I guess it didn’t go too poorly, as they offered me the job.”

            Zayn’s eyes widened and he set down his sandwich, leaning towards his boyfriend with a huge smile on his face.

            “They offered you the job and that wasn’t the first thing you said to me?!”

            Liam shrugged, an ornery grin on his face.

            Though Zayn had quickly gotten over his momentary phase of being paranoid while Liam worked at the strip club, it became clear that Liam had been ready to move on to something new after a couple months, as he came back to Zayn almost every night-whether that be at his own place or the other’s-and pulled him close in bed, sighing in defeat against the top of Zayn’s head before placing a kiss there and whispering, “I love you so much. I’m sorry.”

            Time and time again, Zayn would tell him that it was okay; that he understood, but it soon became clear that it _wasn’t_ okay for the simple fact that Liam wasn’t happy doing it anymore.

            It had taken awhile for Liam to find a job that he felt he could get with his minimal experience and still be able to pay bills and eat, but, finally, he found an ad online for a night time stocker at a local store. The hours would be even worse than the strip club, and Liam thought he would still make a bit less money than he was used to, but he became so sick of his job and ‘touching people that weren’t Zayn’ that he applied immediately and, apparently, got the job.

            Zayn was excited for him, but nervous as well, simply because he knew how anxious Liam was. What if he wasn’t good at anything else? What if he gets fired? What if he’s wrong and he can’t make it on any less money?

            If things went according to Zayn’s plan, though, then Liam wouldn’t have to worry long.

            It was September, which meant that Zayn and Liam had been dating for over three months. It wasn’t long, but besides that one fight near the beginning of their relationship, things had been going great. If they continued on that path, then Zayn wanted to ask Liam to move in with him over winter break. Instead of charging his boyfriend rent, Zayn would suggest using that money for Liam’s schooling.

            Recently, Liam had mentioned that he wanted to take classes online and get certified to teach music, and Zayn knew for a fact that the music instructor at his school was to retire in a couple years.

            Of course, all of this depended on how Liam felt. Zayn had mentioned none of it to him yet, but he would soon.

            “This calls for a celebration,” Zayn decided, and Liam quirked an eyebrow.

            “What do you suggest?” he asked.

            “You don’t work tomorrow night, right?” Zayn verified. It was rare for his boyfriend to get a Friday night off, but it happened occasionally. When it did, the two had ‘family night’ with Zoey and Isa, if Zayn had him. This weekend, Zayn lucked out, as Garrett and Daniel were in Greece, because he’d had Isa the previous weekend as well. He was sure that Garrett would demand two consecutive weekends with their child when he returned, but Zayn would fret over that when the time came.

            “Nope, I’m off,”  Liam said in reply to Zayn’s question. The teacher smiled.

            “Good,” he said. “I know we typically have family nights when we can on Fridays, but how about I take you out instead?”

            “Just you and me?”

            “That’s what I was thinking.”

            Liam didn’t answer right away, absently chewing on his lip as he thought.

            “If you’d rather do family night, that’s fine,” Zayn assured the other, and he meant it. Now that Zoey was getting older, she was becoming more aware of when Liam left her, and while she typically wouldn’t pout too much when she knew he had to go to work, Zayn knew how much he hated leaving her.

            “No, an actual date night with just us sounds great,” Liam said. While Zayn didn’t like leaving Isa with a sitter on the nights he had him, he had to agree with Liam. They needed a date night. It had been well over a month since they’d had time to themselves.

            Liam continued,

            “I’m just trying to figure out if Nicola or Roo had anything come up since my parents are out of town.”

            “To watch Zo, you mean?” Zayn asked. Liam nodded.

            “Don’t worry about it,” Zayn told him. “My mum would be happy to watch Zoey.”

            “You think?” Liam asked, looking surprised, but happy.

            “Yes,” Zayn told him, reaching across the table to grab Liam’s hand, now that both of their sandwiches were gone. “She loves Isa, of course, but I think she secretly wanted a granddaughter, though I don’t know why. You’d think my sisters would give of enough estrogen to drive her crazy.”

            Liam smiled at Zayn’s mild jab towards his sisters, though not as much as he had when Zayn likened Zoey to being an actual part of the family.

            “If you’re sure,” Liam said.

            “I’ll call her tonight and ask, but I am one hundred percent positive that we’ll make her night just by asking her to watch both kids.”

 

            Before Liam, Isa and Zoey left, Zayn gave them a tour of the break room, making a big deal out of the ‘forbidden’ storage closet, where Isa suggested the Loch Ness monster lived, while Zoey thought there were probably fairies or elves hidden away in there.

            As it always did, the end of Zayn’s break came way too quickly. Liam and the kids walked him to his room, where students were already starting to pile in and sit down. Zayn gave his boyfriend a kiss anyway, not caring about the various ‘oohs’ and ‘aws’ from the teenagers. In fact, he couldn’t help but to smile with pride when, after the three left, his students bombarded him with comments about how hot Liam was and how cute the kids were.

 

            As Zayn had already known she would be, Trisha was ecstatic about the opportunity to babysit both children, so, the next evening, Zayn took Liam to dinner. The restaurant was a fancier one than they’d ever been to as a couple, and Liam told him that his new job wasn’t _that_ special, but Zayn disagreed.

            “I think you’ll be happy there,” Zayn told his boyfriend, “and your happiness is priceless.”

            “Aw,” Liam said, patting Zayn’s cheek as though he were teasing, but Zayn knew that his words, however, cliché, had touched his boyfriend because Zayn had meant them.

 

            Zayn had heard somewhere that the right person would make you fall in love with them all over again every single day. The notion didn’t quite make sense to Zayn, because he didn’t believe that anybody fell asleep loving someone and suddenly just stopped before they came back to consciousness.

            With Liam, he kind of started to understand the sentiment. Though he never stopped loving him, even when he was dead to the world, lost in a fake land of his mind’s creation, he did always get a surge of some deep emotion-or, rather, emotions-when he rolled over to see Liam either asleep or stirring, or when he joined the other for breakfast, or, if they were separated, the first time he heard his voice, which would either be rough and gravely or smooth and sweet, depending on how long he’d been awake, when he answered the phone or called Zayn. Zayn would always feel a pure kind of happiness. He would feel a surge of a love deeper than he thought he would be able to give anyone but his son, and, if they were just conversing over the phone, he would feel just a hint of longing. Mostly, though, he felt safe, and when he thought about it, those emotions combined did feel a lot like falling in love.

            It wasn’t that Zayn ever stopped feeling happy or safe with Liam, but feeling them to the same degree as he did when he first made contact with Liam in the morning, proving that he was real and that he hadn’t been some great fable of Zayn’s mind, all of the time would be quite overwhelming.

            That night was different. Zayn didn’t know if it was the happy glint in Liam’s eye as Zayn toasted him with the second most expensive wine on the menu, or the way his laugh sounded over the soft, romantic music the restaurant was playing, or if the teenagers that Zayn taught were rubbing off on him and causing him to have a hormonal crisis, but Zayn’s heart rate picked up speed every time he looked at Liam or touched his skin, and not just in the minimal way hearts usually did when you were around someone whom you loved. Zayn could physically feel the change of pace, and it didn’t feel bad-quite the opposite, actually-but he still didn’t quite understand it until a little bit later.

            After the two finished their meal, they walked aimlessly around downtown. Zayn’s mother had told them to stay out as late as they wanted, and while they wouldn’t typically take that so much to heart, they decided to obey and stay out as late as they wanted; not a second earlier or later.

            The night was cool, but Zayn kept fairly warm in the brown leather jacket Liam had bought him only the previous week. His hands had started to get chilly, but Liam had taken one of them only a couple minutes into their walk, and the other one, Zayn shoved into his jeans pocket.

            “How do you feel about Halloween?” Liam asked, seemingly randomly. Until then, they had been quiet on their walk, except for the occasional comment about a building they found interesting or if they passed a restaurant, bar or shop that they decided they wanted to go in someday.

            “I like it,” Zayn answered. “I wasn’t the biggest fan until I had Isa, but he loves it so much that I guess it kind of grew on me. Are you a Halloween fan?”

            “I don’t know,” Liam said with a shrug. “I used to say I did, but I think I just liked the parties because, well, I went through a bit of a partying phase once I got out of school. It’s okay now, I guess, and Zoey will be able to do more this year, so it will probably be fun.”

            “Yeah, I’m sure she’ll be all into it this year,” Zayn said, and then, “So, not that I mind the random question, but is there a reason you brought up Halloween?”

            Liam smiled sheepishly, looking at the ground and kicking a stray leaf that had prematurely fallen from a nearby tree.

            “I was just going to say that, if you have Isa this year, maybe we could coordinate the kids’ costumes.”

            “That would be adorable,” Zayn said, smiling at the idea. “Last year, trick-or-treat was on a different night for Garrett’s neighborhood and mine, so we let each other have Isa for our respective days. We can always hope that’s how it is this year.”

            “I hope so,” Liam said with a nod.

            “Did you have any particular costumes in mind for them?” Zayn asked.

            “Well, it should be something Disney themed, I think, for our upcoming vacation.”

            “Two years is upcoming to you?” Zayn asked with a slight chuckle as he massaged circles into the side of Liam’s hand with his thumb.

            “Not really,” Liam admitted, “but this next summer is, I think.”

            Zayn raised an eyebrow, wondering what the summer would have to do with anything. He and Liam had sat down and planned out their finances, making an estimate of when they would be able to potentially take a vacation and had decided on trying for the summer _after_ the next one. Zayn mentioned this to Liam.

            “Yeah,” Liam said with another sheepish grin, “but I kind of lied when I said I don’t think I’ll be able to afford it next year.”

            “Well, what did you do that for, silly?” Zayn asked.

            “Because I wanted to surprise you,” Liam said. “You don’t have anything planned for July seventeenth through the twenty-third, do you?”

            “No…,” Zayn said, still a little confused, or maybe his brain just refused to process this information, even though it made perfect sense what was going on.

            “Good,” Liam said, smiling again, this time nervously, “because, um, I already booked the hotel and I have half of the money saved for travel.”

            “Hold on, you’re serious?”

            “Yes?” Liam said. It sounded like a question and he rushed to add, “but we can always cancel. If we do it soon, we won’t even have to pay a fee. It’s no big deal, I know this is something that we should have discussed, I just…I…I don’t know. Sorry.”

            Liam shifted, almost pulling his hand out of Zayn’s, but the teacher tightened his grip, a wide grin slowly spreading across his face.

            “Babe…you’re so wonderful,” Zayn said, sighing happily afterward. Liam’s brows pulled together.

            “Wait, so do you want to go or no?”

            “Of course I do,” Zayn said, “and I should have enough to pay for the other half of the travel expenses right now so we can secure plane tickets. I’ll just have to talk to douche nugget and-”

            “Actually,” Liam interrupted, and then apologized for doing so before continuing, “I already did.”

            “You already talked to Garrett?”

            “Yeah. He’s actually okay with it.”

            “Alright, now I know I have to be dreaming.”

            Garrett had been better towards Zayn ever since Liam’s chat with him-not much better, as he had to visibly bite his tongue the whole time he was around Zayn so as not to say something rude, which resulted in very short ‘hellos’ and ‘goodbyes,’ which were potentially more awkward then when Garrett was outright cruel. Zayn didn’t mind, though, because how could he when his wonderful boyfriend had stood up for him, and it had actually made a difference?

            Zayn loved him so much.

            There had been one more time that Garrett had attempted to reconcile with Zayn, shortly after he and Liam had had that chat, but Zayn shot him down quickly, pointing out how unfair he was being not only to him, but, mostly, to Daniel. Zayn still didn’t like the guy and he probably never could by default, but he still had moral enough to know that Garrett shouldn’t try to get back with his ex-husband while messing about with the other man.

After that, Garrett’s hellos and goodbyes became even shorter, but Zayn accepted that was how things would be.

            He was sure that Garrett would have had a lot to say about Zayn and Liam whisking Isa off to Disneyland, though.

            “No,” Liam replied to Zayn, assuring him that he wasn’t dreaming, with a small laugh. “He didn’t come around right away, and at first I was terrified that he was going to tell you about it because he was pissed, but in the end, he told me that Isa would have fun and that you deserved to get away.”

            Zayn couldn’t help it, he was gaping at Liam. His boyfriend smiled again, in a purely happy way that time.

            “This is amazing,” Zayn said. “You are amazing.”

            Liam stopped walking, turning his body so that he was standing in front of Zayn. After spending a brief moment studying Zayn’s face the way he always did before he kissed the man, Liam leaned down and pressed their lips together, causing Zayn’s heart to do that thing that it had been doing in the restaurant, and suddenly, Zayn knew why things felt differently now.

            Zayn had loved Liam for a while and he’d assumed that meant that he’d been in love with him, but he was wrong. It was then that Zayn realized that he’d never, until that night, been in love before. Suddenly, the cliché love stories weren’t so cliché anymore.

            “Liam Payne,” Zayn said, his voice barely sounding like his own.

            “Yes?” Liam asked, grinning with his arms around Zayn’s waist.

            “I’m in love with you,” Zayn told him, needing to say it now that he knew ‘I love you’ and ‘I’m in love with you’ held completely different meanings.

            “Zayn Malik,” Liam began, and Zayn laughed, his head fuzzy.

            “Yes?”

            “I’m in love with you.”

 

            “Hey, Isa! I missed you!”

            “I missed you too, daddy!”

            Garrett leaned down and scooped up his son as the child went running towards him, a bright smile on his face.

            “How was Greece?” Zayn asked after giving the two a moment to hug and exchange kisses.

            “It was alright,” Garrett said, his voice almost polite. He rocked his body slightly as Isa laid his head on his shoulder. “You probably would have liked it, though. Sorry that I never took you.”

            “It’s alright,” Zayn said, having long gotten over that fact. “Hey, Liam told me about, um, our vacation.”

            Zayn didn’t yet want to say the word ‘Disneyland’ because, even though Isa wouldn’t really know what they were talking about, he would definitely tune into that word and beg Zayn to go, like he had done on occasion, though only recently. _Perfect timing._

            To Garrett, Zayn went on.

            “Thank you for being cool with it.”

            “Yeah,” Garrett said with a smile, then paused to put Isa on the ground. As soon as he did, the kid ran off. His dads watched him go and then, once he was out of sight, turned back to each other.

            “I think he’ll have a really good time with Zoey,” Garrett told Zayn. “He talks about her all of the time.”

            “I’m really glad they get along so well,” Zayn said.

            “Me too,” Garrett said, and seemed to mean it. After a moment of silence Zayn asked,

            “Did Daniel have fun in Greece, at least?”

            “Yeah, he did,” Garrett answered.

            “Good,” Zayn said.

            “Hey, Z?”

            “Yeah?”

            “I know I’ve said this a million times and you told me that you don’t need to hear it anymore, but I really am sorry, and not only for cheating. I’m sorry that I didn’t know how to be a very good husband in general and I’m sorry that, even after we were divorced, I continued to make you miserable.”

            “Thank you,” Zayn said, appreciating the sentiment even though, with a lot of self-reflection and venting to Liam, he’d let go of all grudges he had against his ex-husband and all of the negative feelings he’d ever made him feel towards himself.

            “I don’t know if this is appropriate for me to tell you or not, but I love Daniel. I didn’t at first. In the beginning, he was an adventure and then, when you got with Liam, I used him to try and make you jealous, which obviously wasn’t fair to either of you, and I don’t know why I thought that would result in us getting back together, but I see now that we aren’t good for each other and maybe we never were. I realize I’m lucky to have Daniel and you’re lucky to have Liam; and Liam is really lucky to have you.”

            “Thank you,” Zayn said, the words feeling like they weren’t enough, but he honestly didn’t know what to say. He could lie and say that it was alright and that he understood, but it wasn’t and he didn’t. Both Zayn and Garrett did things in both their marriage and divorce that weren’t okay, and Zayn didn’t know why they’d been so convinced they were in love when all they did was hurt each other; Garrett through words and actions and Zayn through…Well…quite the opposite.

            During his period of self-reflection, Zayn had to really think about what he could have done to cause his previous relationship to shatter, because maybe Garrett was a ‘douche nugget,’ as Liam liked to call him, but, as they say, every story has two sides.

            True, Garrett was a control freak. He wasn’t happy unless things went exactly as he planned and Zayn, a ‘free bird,’ as his mother called him, wasn’t the type to listen and follow directions if he didn’t agree with them. In return, Garrett lashed out at him and, instead of trying to work it out and meet him halfway, Zayn shut down. His ex-husband had been the one to sleep in a different room for months before their son was born, but it was Zayn who had rejected many of his advances for love and intimacy, and not just in the form of sex.

            He didn’t particularly feel like going over all of this with Garrett, however. He had to know already, and someday, Zayn would apologize, but it was clear that Garrett had this whole speech planned out in his head, and he was sure that him undermining the other’s apology with his own was not in the script. This time, Zayn let him have control.

            “Anyway,” Garrett said, a small smile on his face, “I should go spend some time with Isa. I really did miss him.”

            “He missed you too,” Zayn said. “You’re keeping him a few extra days, right?”

            “Yeah, that was the plan, but if you wanted to come get him one night for dinner-Tuesday, maybe-that would be fine.”

            “Okay,” Zayn said with his own smile. “Sounds great.”

            “See you later, Z.”

            “Bye, Garrett.”

 

            “Liam, why are you staring at me funny?”

            “You look…happy…”

            “I am happy.”

            “But you just got back from _his_ place.”

            Zayn laughed, running his fingers through his boyfriend’s hair before giving him a kiss on the lips.

            “It was fine this time, actually,” he told the man. “He actually wasn’t really a douche nugget this time.”

            “Well, good,” Liam said, returning the kiss he was given.

            “Hey, Li?”

            “Yeah?”

            “I don’t know if I believe in fate, or that everything happens for a reason, but recently, I’ve been thinking about how, sometimes, bad things lead the way for great things to fall into place, and I think that’s amazing.”

            “Look at you, getting all sentimental,” Liam teased, but kissed Zayn again to let him know he was doing so lovingly.

            “Can’t help it,” Zayn said. “I’m an English teacher. You know how dramatic we can be.”

            “Don’t I ever,” Liam said, licking Zayn’s nose. The teacher raised an eyebrow and then laughed.

            “You want to take advantage of Zoey actually taking a nap today?”

            “Yes, please.”

            “Okay,” Zayn sighed, pretending that the idea put him out when both he and Liam knew that wasn’t true.

            “I’m glad I got this new job,” Liam said after taking a moment to leave a bruise on Zayn’s neck, “but do like to think that I have a bit of natural stripper in me, so if it’s not too much of a bother, I may have to practice a routine for you every now and then.”

            “I guess that would be alright,” Zayn told him, as if the mere idea didn’t turn him on. “In fact, I’m feeling generous today, so if you’d like to give me a lap dance, I wouldn’t complain too much.”

            So Liam gave Zayn his own private show. After retrieving a chair from the kitchen, he made sure Zayn was comfortably seated and then took his shirt off, straddling his legs across his lap; Liam slowly moving his hips back and forth while looking at Zayn, his facial expression going from a sexy smirk to an almost embarrassed grin and then back again.

            Since Zayn was, in fact, Liam’s boyfriend, Liam was able to do with him more than he could with the patrons at the club, and when his hips tired, he sat down, leaning over to suck Zayn’s neck again while still keeping his hips going back and forth just enough to provide a slight friction to all the right areas. Also, since Liam was Zayn’s boyfriend, he was allowed to touch back without any restrictions, and he went from squeezing his love’s waist, to kissing his lips, to twisting his fingers in his hair while making small moans right before he decided that he couldn’t take it anymore and unbuttoned Liam’s jeans.

            Getting the hint, Liam pulled him to the bed and let Zayn undress him.

            Zayn rather enjoyed the show, and the after party, but decided that next time, he would request-or, allow, as he would put it-Liam to be in costume; until, of course, Zayn ripped that off of him as well.

 

            “Not to be sappy or anything, but thank you for coming into my life, Li. I mean it.”

            Liam, Zayn thought, had almost been asleep a few minutes after their fun was over, and he really should just let him rest, but he couldn’t not say what was on his mind. He didn’t know why, but he just couldn’t.

            Rolling over to face the other man, Liam gave a sleepy smile, rubbing an eye but, thankfully, not looking annoyed that Zayn had pulled him from his near-slumber.

            “There’s nothing wrong with being sappy sometimes,” Liam said. “In fact, I was just thinking about how I hope I get to be in your next life too, if we have another one.”

            “This got dark,” Zayn teased. “We’re not even twenty-five and you’re killing us off already?”

            “No,” Liam said with a wider smile. “I just already know that this one won’t be enough. There’s still a lot I want to do in this life with you, though, so we can’t die yet.”

            “Oh yeah? And what would those things be?”

            “Well…I don’t expect you to want to get married again anytime soon, but I was hoping one day you would be open to the possibility, and adopting a kid or two. Maybe we could even have a biological one. You know, I’ve heard scientists are really close to making it possible for same sex couples to have a baby with both of their genetics.”

            “That kid would be gorgeous,” Zayn said, closing his eyes briefly to try to picture it. “They’d look like you, but darker.”

            “No, I think they’d look like you, but lighter,” Liam argued, but Zayn smiled.

            “I guess we’ll have to see,” he said.

            “Yes, we will,” Liam agreed.

            “It will happen someday,” Zayn told him. Liam gave an eye-dimpled smile and positioned himself so that he could nuzzle against Zayn’s chest. Zayn decided to let him sleep then; let him dream of the things that one day, he felt with his entire heart, would be their reality.

***

            “Look, baba, it’s Mickey!”

            “It is! Do you want to go get a picture with him?”

            “Yeah! I was Mickey for Halloween, do you remember?”

            “I do remember!”

            “And I was Minnie Mouse!” Zoey added.

            “You two were the best Mickey and Minnie ever,” Liam told the children. “Come on; let’s go get a picture.”

            Zayn, Liam, Isa and Zoey had only been at Disneyland for just over an hour, but the kids were having a blast; and the adults as well. Isa and Zoey hadn’t slowed down since entering the park, getting excited over every character whether they usually liked them or not. They’d only ridden one ride, and the kids had liked it, but they were much too energized for standing in lines at the moment, which was fine. Zayn and Liam were definitely getting their exercise and, personally, Zayn was more into the visuals than the rides anyway.

            “Are there going to be fireworks tonight?” Zoey had asked. At least once a day for the past week, she had been asking if they were going to be fireworks at Disney, and Liam told her the same thing as he always had,

            “Yes, and I promise we’ll see them if you two aren’t too tired.”

            “We won’t be,” Zoey assured him for the umpteenth time.

            “Baba, I want you in the picture,” Isa told his father when they had reached Mickey and Minnie.

            “Daddy too!” Zoey insisted, and so the couple found someone to take a picture for them. In a turn of events, Zoey raised her arms, wanting Zayn to pick her up, and Isa did the same for Liam. Of course, neither dad minded. In fact, Zayn almost found himself getting emotional as he smiled for the picture, Zoey’s little cheek pressed against him and her high-pitched voice shrieking, ‘cheese’ in his ear.

            In Zayn’s perfect world, he would have gotten everything right the first time he’d been married, but now, Zayn was so grateful that it hadn’t gone that way. Even if, by some miracle, he’d met Liam when they were younger and they fell in love and married, Isa and Zoey wouldn’t be there and that wouldn’t have been right at all. Early on, Zayn had told Liam that he’d always dreamed of a ‘whole’ family, but what he realized then was that he had a whole family. It didn’t matter how many branches were going off their family tree or in what direction. They were a family and nothing from the past could change that.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I always like to leave things a bit open ended in case I ever want to do a sequel or time stamps later on, and I'm not opposed to the idea for this story either, especially since I am admittedly scatter brained at the moment XD I really do hope you enjoyed this, though, and thank you so much for reading this far! Let me know if you'd like to see a time stamp or two somewhere down the line, and if you have any ideas for said time stamps, I'll take those too! I really do feel bad that this took so long to get out and I don't want this to be underwhelming! (I realize this is very unprofessional, but I am a sociology teacher, not an author, so don't sue me.)
> 
> Anyway, I'll stop rambling on now and just say; thanks for all of the support! <3

**Author's Note:**

> I can never keep up with deadlines I set for myself, so I'm just going to say that there will be one update per week and go from there :) I really do hope you enjoyed this!
> 
> PS, I wrote this before Liam's baby drama but just now got the time to continue ;)


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